'Portugal is full' as fans rush in

An army of 70,000 England fans poured into Lisbon today in a mad dash to watch tonight's crucial Euro 2004 quarter-final.

As football fever gripped England, with more than 30 million viewers expected to tune in, the largest ever contingent of travelling fans joined a last-minute stampede to Portugal, in the hope of roaring David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and their teammates into the semi-finals.

Victories against Switzerland and Croatia have convinced many fans already in Portugal to stay on, and triggered a pilgrimage of others desperate to join the party.

Incredibly, that could see the Portuguese fans outnumbered at Estadio da Luz tonight. Some 25,000 tickets have been allocated to England supporters - but officials in Lisbon believe up to 45,000 more will be in the capital tonight.

A spokesman for the Portuguese tourist authority said: "The country is running at capacity: even hotels two hours from Lisbon are booked out. Portugal is 100 per cent full." He added: "This is the biggest game of the tournament so far. Thousands of fans have travelled without tickets, either hoping to buy them here or aiming to watch the game in Lisbon. We think we could see up to 70,000 English."

England's opponents have also seen their confidence soar. Victory over Spain has convinced many Portuguese their team have a real chance of winning Euro 2004.

That has further increased demand for seats, sending the price of black-market tickets as high as 600 euros (?400), more than 10 times their face value. Hundreds of Portuguese queued for up to 48 hours to buy 500 extra tickets from the Portuguese football federation yesterday. "The police have been tight on black market dealers, but if there are any the English will probably buy more tickets," said Joao Tavares, a sports journalist at Portuguese daily Correio da Manha.

Flights into Portugal are sold out, while British Airways has laid on four jumbo jets to fly in fans from Heathrow today.

The vast influx represents the toughest challenge yet for police. Superintendent Guilherme Guedes Da Silva, in charge of policing tonight's match, which starts at

7.45pm, said officers were being drafted in from around the country.

"We will have a more visible presence at the match," he said. About 400 officers will be in the ground with some 600 outside. A further 4,000 riot police are on standby around the city. So far the police's "softly, softly" approach has proved a success, with only a few isolated outbreaks of trouble.

Meanwhile eight million are expected to gather in pubs and bars at home, the rest sitting on the edge of their seats. If England get to the semi-finals, City analysts believe it could boost the economy by ?400 million.

Uefa has given the England team permission to wear black armbands tonight as a mark of respect for murdered fan Stephen Smith.

In a separate incident a 19-year-old England fan was stabbed in the neck on the Algarve yesterday. He is said to be stable in hospital. Portuguese police sources said it was believed he was in a group involved in a confrontation with a Portuguese man and two girls.