England fans line roads to cheer team bus from St George’s Park to Wembley for Euro 2020 final

Harry Kane thanks supporters for ‘unreal’ roadside send-off

Fans lined roads near the England training centre in Staffordshire (screengrab)

Hundreds of fans lined roads on Saturday to applaud and cheer England team players as they moved from their training ground to Wembley ahead of Sunday’s historic Euro 2020 final.

Police and highways officials had to control crowds along roads leading from St George’s Park near Burton, Staffordshire.

Shouts of "come on England!" grew to a roar as the team coach swept by under police escort.

The wild scenes appear to take England officials by surprise. A voice on the bus could be heard saying: “Wow, did that just happen?”

Harry Kane tweeted that the roadside reception was “unreal.”

“The support for the team has been incredible all tournament,” he wrote.

He later told a news conference: "We know how much it means to the English fans all over the country so we’re proud to be representing them and hopefully we can do them proud again."

While only 60,000 fans can get into Wembley to watch the match, many more are expected to travel to London to try and soak up the atmosphere and police have urged those without tickets not to come to the capital because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Away from the football stadium, tens of millions of people will be watching the game at home, in the pub or even at work.

The total TV audience is expected to surge past the 26.7 million seen during the semi-final against Denmark on Wednesday and break the record of 32.3 million set during the 1966 World Cup final.

In the pubs, England fans are predicted to buy more than 13 million pints on Sunday, including 7.1 million pints during the game itself.