A video has captured the moment England fans in Frankfurt burst into the famous Ten German Bombers chant, and were then unexpectedly joined by Germans.
Fans flooded the city’s main square on Wednesday evening ahead of England’s second Euros game against Denmark on Thursday.
The can be seen jumping up and down and chanting, while others look and laugh, in a video captured by the Daily Express’ Zak Garner-Purkis, who was at the scene.
He described a tense but peaceful atmosphere, with police keeping a close eye on an estimated 1,000 fans crammed into the square.
There also appeared to be homeless people whoi joined in with the chat as they went around collecting smashed bottles, seemingly unaware of its meaning.
Our reporter also heard fans chanting “have you ever seen the Germans win a war” and singing in support of Tommy Robinson. On a lighter note, they also burst out into renditions of Sweet Caroline and Vindaloo.
Despite the tense atmosphere, things remained friendly between the two rival fan bases as they celebrated their previous wins in the tournament.
Two German fans walking past the square told the Express: “We like the England fans, they are cool. The atmosphere is better here than with the German fans.”
A police officer told the Express it had been “peaceful all day” but “if anything happens we will deal with it”. Police also said fans have been drinking “all day”, with most bringing their own booze to the square.
This comes as one England fan and seven Serbs are facing criminal charges after trouble involving about 150 fans before their teams’ game on Sunday, which England won 1-0.
Gelsenkirchen’s chief of police, Peter Both, said it was not clear who started the violence. He said: “The Serbian fan group was already in the restaurant and obviously ate there and then a larger group of English fans then tried to get into this restaurant as well. And that’s exactly what sparked the dispute.
“What we can hardly say now, of course, in retrospect, is did the Serbs refuse entry to the English or did the English provoke the Serbs? Of course, this can hardly be brightened up afterwards. The fact is that when they tried to enter the pub, there was an immediate physical altercation.
“We subsequently made several detentions. We carried out a total of around 50 identity checks. We took eight fans into custody before the game, who were then unable to watch the game.”