– We didn’t come here for Cristiano Ronaldo. The fans came to the match in Warsaw for him. I couldn’t believe what I saw there. For me, it’s not the fans who were happy when our team scored a goal. The real fans are here. They devoted their time and money to be here and they will certainly support better than those at the National Stadium – told us Mr. Paweł, a fan of Górnik Zabrze and the Polish national team, who appeared at Ribeira Square, right next to the Ponte Luis I bridge, one of the most recognizable and characteristic buildings in Porto.
Watch the video The Pole became a real legend here! The biggest of the biggest
It was in this square that the meeting of the Polish team’s fans was to start at 3:00 p.m. local time before the match against Portugal in the Nations League. It did, but it started with a long delay. It was all because of the weather and a cloudburst that torpedoed the fans’ original plans. Those in Porto appeared in very large numbers that are impossible to estimate precisely.
All because not only two thousand people will sit at the Estadio do Dragao. Poles who bought tickets for the guest sector. From conversations with our compatriots who appeared in Porto, we know that at least the same number will appear in the host sectors.
Just before the scheduled start of the match, there were more police than fans at Ribeira Square. Only after several dozen minutes, when the rain stopped, fans from Poland started to appear on the Douro River. Among them, among others: a duo of men equipped with a megaphone and a drum who started cheering.
The increasing number of Polish fans attracted the attention of tourists and residents of Porto. They eagerly took out their phones and recorded the singing fans. Singing songs, both cultural and those less quotable. “We are here, we are there, we are f***a everywhere” – this is the song that fans chanted most often, and which was their hit during Euro 2024.
Even though a loud group of several dozen Polish fans eventually appeared on the river, remembering the previous away matches of Michał Probierz’s team, we expected something more in Porto. Poles across Europe formed an impressive white and red crowd that went to meetings together, but on Friday the plans were unexpectedly thwarted by the weather.
The weather in Porto torpedoed the Poles’ plans
Fans of the Polish national team were visible in Porto since Wednesday evening. Back then, they could be found mainly on Rua de Candido dos Reis, one of the most party streets in the city, full of clubs and bars. There, however, they did not stand out from the crowd of students having fun.
It was different just a day later. On Thursday, the number of Poles in Porto was increasing hour by hour, and in the evening our compatriots took over the city center. The bars were full of Polish fans. In one of them, cheering was provided by the previously mentioned duo of men equipped with a drum and a megaphone. “Poland, Poland”, “We play at home” echoed around the center in Porto.
On Friday morning it was incomparably calmer. Although the Polish language and our fans could be heard and seen almost everywhere, there were no groups intensively preparing for the match. Instead of singing, there were conversations, and fans replaced hanging out in pubs with exploring the charming streets of the center of Porto.
Sports shops were also very popular, where fans could buy football souvenirs and Cristiano Ronaldo T-shirts. Some people also decided to buy match shirts of the Portuguese giants: FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting.
Back then, Polish fans were not so discouraged by the weather, which on Friday morning was definitely more reminiscent of Polish than Portuguese autumn. While Porto welcomed us with high temperatures and sun on Monday, on Wednesday the weather clearly began to deteriorate.
On Wednesday it was still sunny, but windy and noticeably colder. On Thursday, the sun appeared only sporadically, and in the evening it rained. It also appeared on Friday after 12:00 and it rained for several hours, which did not make the pre-match tour any more pleasant. Despite this, the temperature was still much more pleasant than in Poland. When it was seven degrees Celsius in Warsaw, in Porto – despite the rain – it was as much as 10 degrees warmer. The atmosphere at the Estadio do Dragao promises to be incomparably hotter.
Portugal – Poland match on Friday at 20:45. Live coverage on Sport.pl.
