Here we go! England fans pack out Dusseldorf bars for tonight's Euros after shelling out up to £1,400 to fly out for Three Lions clash - but Jack Grealish's dad stays at home to watch from the pub

England fans packed the bars of Dusseldorf's Old Town and riverside promenade this morning ahead of the team's quarter final face-off with Switzerland, with some singing fans tucking into the beers alongside their breakfasts.

The hordes of England fans included businessman and England superfan Barry Daff, wearing a three-piece suit in the colours of his country. 

The 71-year-old has been to five World Cups and took the suit to Qatar. During that World Cup in 2022 he befriended the father of forward Jack Grealish while both were staying on a cruise ship, dubbed HMS Wag as it was also where the players' wives and girlfriends were billeted for the initial phase of the tournament.

Mr Daff, from Oakham, Rutland, spoke to MailOnline as he headed for a beer, having just secured a ticket for the match for an eye-watering £575. 

He arrived in Dusseldorf on Friday, saying: 'I travel on my own but I always meet people when I'm here. The suit is something of a conversation starter, people just come up to me. It's always a good bunch.

'I'm lucky, I've got a few bob so I can afford the ticket. 'I just love to travel but my wife Angela back home doesn't like sport.

'But I think we'll play well tonight and we'll win 2-0.'

Mr Daff, who runs his own business selling and exporting power generation equipment, said he had planned to travel out to Germany with Grealish's father, Kevin, until the winger's shock omission from the Euro 2024 squad.

'He's back home watching the games from a pub', Mr Daff added. 'He's an amazing guy, so hospitable. I love him to bits.'

Mr Daff said people who stop him wearing his trademark cross of St George suit 'think I've had it specially commissioned, but I bought the suit jacket and waistcoat from a shop in Leicester, and sourced the red trousers separately, off the peg.'

Further along the packed Bolkerstrasse, England fans from Burnley and Bristol were pinning their flags to an empty shop front, as fans sang 'Phil Foden's on Fire' at another bar yards away.

The Three Lions Fans soaking up the atmosphere also included a Stoke-born teacher who flew in from Australia to watch the match with a former workmate and three other friends.

Claratte Goodhead, 34, and Sean Cunningham, from Stretford, 32, met years ago working a summer season in Ibiza selling tickets for club events. 

Ms Goodhead said she had spent £1,400 flying in from Sydney, at the start of a two-week holiday in which she will visit family back home. 

She said: 'We have been too restrained in the tournament up until now. Southgate needs to let the brake off and if that happens we can win this tournament because we're on the easier side of the draw.'

Mr Cunningham agreed, saying: 'I think we'll win 2-1 with goals from Foden and Bellingham. And if we win today I think we can win the whole thing.'

Father and daughter Mick and Eva Holmes also travelled out to the match from their home in Sheffield.

Mr Holmes, 30, dyed the six-year-old's hair in the colours of the English flag, adding: 'It's my best effort, if her mum was here, she'd do a better job of it.'

Mr Holmes, who works in the public sector, said the pair's tickets had cost in over £1,000 and joked 'I'll be doing a lot of overtime when I get back'.

Eva is something of a social media star who travels home and away with her father watching Sheffield United. 

She has a TikTok account called Chopsys Football Diary' with 16,000 followers and her father said the 47,000-capacity Dusseldorf Arena will be the primary schoolgirl's 46th ground visited.

Also in Dusseldorf with his children was Aaron McLoughlin, 39, who drove to Dusseldorf with sons Ashton, 12, and Elliott, aged eight, yesterday from their home in Boston, Lincolnshire.

He said the trio watched Germany's elimination at the hands of Spain in a riverside fan park, before moving to the Old Town where they 'partied with the England fans until 1am'.

Mr McLoughlin added: 'It's a memory for them both and they loved it. We had fans lifting them on their shoulders – England fans are out here in numbers - and it was a proper party. But the boys are a bit tired today.'

As even more fans travel to Dusseldorf hilarious photos show them catching 40 winks on the way as they prepare for a boozy night celebrating Britain's best team.

One even showed off the best of our country's innovation ducking beneath his pal's seats for a good kip on the train carriage floor as he travelled from Hamberg.

Following last week's last-minute victory against Slovakia, England are playing Switzerland in the Euros quarter-final as fans back home are set to down as many as 45 million pints in a booming day for boozers.

Three million are heading to bars across the country alongside 23 million viewers expected to watch the game from home across BBC1 and iPlayer - the highest figures since the 2022 World Cup.

Pubs are set to benefit from a £150 million spending spree on booze and food as staff are set to serve up 22 million pints.

And at home the number of fans dashing to the fridge to grab more cans at half time is expected to be so significant that the energy network is bracing itself for an electricity spike as big as a nuclear power station's output. 

It comes as tensions are already high as hard-core fans make their way to Germany, with fights breaking out as Brits clashed with the host nation after they crashed out of the tournament last night. 

As many as 40,000 England fans are expected in Dusseldorf for their Euros quarter-final with Switzerland – despite an official ticket allocation of just 6,700.

Nick Mackenzie, CEO of pub chain Greene King, which will sell 425,000 pints in 90 minutes, said: 'It will be our busiest game of the tournament. The Euros are providing a great boost to pubs as communities come together to cheer on the team.' 

And British Beer and Pub Association chief executive Emma McClarkin added: 'Pub goers know there is no better place to enjoy the game than the pub. An extra eight million pints could be drunk on Saturday.'

Boxpark big screen outdoor venues will be packed in London's Wembley, Croydon and Shoreditch, as well as in Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.

But not everywhere in the country will be embracing Euros fever - as Wimbledon has banned the England game for People's Saturday.

Now umpires are on alert to interrupt play to tell off noisy spectators cheering while watching the football on their phones, with offenders risking being removed from courts by stewards.

An All England Club spokesperson said: 'We won't be showing the Euros. Our screens will be showing the tennis.' 

Prince William, who is also the President of the FA, will join the crowds in the Dusseldorf Arena as they fight out the crunch match.

It comes as tensions are already high for England fans overseas after clashes with German supporters last night, following the host nation's dramatic exit against Spain.

Footage from the streets of Dusselford showed taunts being thrown, before fists flew and police sealed off both sides of the street where fans had been drinking all day in Alstadt. 

One witness said: 'The England fans were taunting the Germans about them losing to Spain and then they started singing songs like 'have you ever seen the Germans win a war?' 

'There were about 20 English men who got involved in confronting a group of Germans and then a couple got involved in a punch up.'

Glasses were used as missiles and beer was thrown over the Germans, as riot police stopped people from entering the area around a bar called Steak-Haus.

The scuffles were over quickly but England fans tried to enflame the situation again by singing 'La Viva Espanol'. 

Police sent officers to patrol and keep rival fans apart.

There were further sporadic outbreaks of violence involving England fans. Beer was thrown at German supporters which led to further fights close to the Mississippi Bar.

Some England fans were seen inhaling from black balloons, while the centre of Alstadt remained tense with riot police charging in through the crowds as fighting broke out in various spots.

British police 'spotters' were monitoring the England fans to gather evidence and liase with German colleagues.

Police have also warned fans that they are in acute danger of falling foul of a shocking cash machine scam is plaguing the city.

Compared with the UK, Germany is surprisingly backward on a digital level, and cash very much remains king. 

Though the use of plastic has skyrocketed since Covid, today Euro coins and notes remain the sole means of accepted payment in many pubs and cafes.  

'The victims stated that their EC cards had apparently been withdrawn from the ATMs used.

'During these operations, the victims heard cracking noises and the display allegedly showed a fault: 'This ATM will be ready to service you again in a moment'.'

But England fans now turning to cash points in Duesseldorf are at extremely serious risk of losing their money by being scammed.

In an 'urgent warning' statement, a spokesperson for Düsseldorf police said: 'This week, there has been an increase in offences in connection with the manipulation of ATMs in the city of Düsseldorf.

At this point, the innocent victims then had their cards swallowed by the machine, on the understanding that their cash request would soon be processed.

But instead of being returned, the bank cards were then stolen 'by unknown perpetrators and subsequently misused at the same ATM or at other locations'.

Düsseldorf police is now urging people not to use an ATM if they notice anything unusual.

And it says that if your card is swallowed, do not leave the location, rather take out your mobile phone and call the bank or the police.

England fans have been largely well-behaved through the first four weeks of the tournament, with only one incident of violence at the first match with Serbia in Gelsenkerchen.

40,000 England fans are set to descend on Dusseldorf – despite an official ticket allocation of just 6,700. 

Tens of thousands are due in Germany's party city for Saturday's clash, which will see no repeat of the booze restrictions previously deployed for Three Lions' matches.

Ove the last week, fans have engaged in a desperate scramble for tickets for what will be a sold-out clash at the 47,000-capacity Dusseldorf Arena. 

On resale site viagogo on Wednesday night, the cheapest seats were being offered for £457, with one on the front row close to halfway listed at close to £3,000.

Dusseldorf is known as 'the world's longest bar' thanks to the more than 300 pubs in its old town area.

And a huge contingent of England supporters is set to flood its narrow streets despite an underwhelming tournament from Gareth Southgate's side so far. 

Only a magic moment from Jude Bellingham in the 95th minute saved them from defeat last week as they came back from behind to secure victory in extra time against Slovakia. 

The side are yet to play in the city but fans have flocked there ahead of games in nearby areas thanks to its vibrant nightlife with many central hotels are sold out.

Unlike England's visits to nearby Gelsenkirchen, there will be no special measures when it comes to buying drinks in the stadium.

At the opening game against Serbia, fans were served low-alcohol, 2.8 per cent beer.

At their return, for the last-16 clash with Slovakia, booze was back to normal strength but fans were only allowed to buy two drinks per visit and were not allowed to take them to their seats.

No such restrictions will are expected at Saturday's match, which kicks off at 6pm.

Today, electricity demand is expected to spike by up to 1,200 megawatts, National Grid figures for previous England major tournament knockout games showed.

The spike is set to be as big the 1,188MW output of Sizewell B nuclear power station, Suffolk.

National Grid declined to comment, but has said previously: 'Fridge doors are opened at the same time as fans get another drink.

'We are experienced in managing demands in real time, so a power cut is a very low risk. If demand is too high, we can increase power stations' output.'

England's semi-final defeat to West Germany at the Italy 1990 World Cup saw Britain's record sudden power surge of 2,800MW.

And as two thirds of Brits are expected to get on the booze during the game, experts are warning them to be extra careful this evening. 

The warning comes as data from the DVLA shows that there were 7,304 incidents – including 191 fatalities – caused by drivers, riders and pedestrians impaired by alcohol in 2022. 

Direct Line have said motorists in built up areas should take extra care when driving on Saturday night, as 4.7 million football fans are set to take to England's pubs, bars and fan zones to cheer on Southgate's squad. 

It comes as research shows 18 per cent of adults with a full UK driving license say that they've had to abruptly stop their vehicle in the road due to an intoxicated pedestrian, while 16 per cent have had to swerve to avoid an intoxicated pedestrian in the road. 

Almost a quarter of respondents said they have fallen in the road as a result of being intoxicated and a further 16 per cent injured by a vehicle. One in five have had an argument with a motorist due to being drunk. 

Matt Pernet, Head of Motor Insurance at Direct Line said: 'Whilst we're hoping there will be cause to celebrate at full time on Saturday, there will be a vast number of fans on the streets following the match. 

'For those driving, we urge them to take extra caution and keep an eye out for crowds of potentially intoxicated fans on the roads.

'Those watching the match outside of their homes should plan their route home ahead of time and not get behind the wheel if they think they might be over the limit.'