Wales fans brought a busy Lisbon street to a standstill on Wednesday night ahead of their UEFA Nations League opener with Portugal. Around 2,500 supporters are expected to back Craig Bellamy's side at the Estádio José Alvalade on Thursday, and the Red Wall have been making their mark.
Fans take over Pink Street
Supporters packed the bars on Rua Nova do Carvalho, otherwise known as Pink Street, for drinks and songs on Wednesday night. The neighbourhood is renowned for its installation of floating umbrellas along the street, but on this occasion it was a sea of red shirts and bucket hats as Wales fans took over.
Calon Lan and the obligatory 'Don't Take me Home' were among the numbers to get an outing as Welsh fans soaked up the atmosphere ahead of what promises to be a tough game for the visitors.
Ronaldo in the spotlight
They face a Portugal side stacked with stars, the most significant being 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who looks set to start the farewell leg of his incredible career in this international break.
Wales boss Craig Bellamy said of the Portugal legend: “We’re talking about not just one of the greatest players of our generation, we’re talking all generations with what he has been able to do.
“His professionalism, cleverness and he’s still got that habit of goalscoring and you never lose that. He’s beyond a superstar.
“But I’ll tell you how big he is. I was with Burnley on pre-season in Lisbon. We got to the airport and the police were everywhere — it was on lockdown.
“We’re Burnley and we had a little bit of VIP. We were on a coach, had a chartered flight but still had to go in the airport a certain way. It was like rows of police with police cars everywhere. And we thought, ‘Something has happened’.
“Everything was locked off. We couldn’t get off the coach and had to wait for what we thought was a security breach.
“We’re stuck on the coach for 10-15 minutes, then suddenly this car turns up. It parks and a guy walks out, goes in the boot, grabs a rucksack and someone else gets out and puts the rucksack on and who is it? Ronaldo.
“What have I just seen? The reason I’m telling this story is because that’s how big this guy is. It was just like, ‘Wow’. I’m so glad I saw that moment because he is just beyond a superstar.”
