Follow all the build-up to England's World Cup opener against Tunisia

The 2,000 England fans here who had ignored the dire warnings were certain of one thing. Win, lose or draw they had enjoyed perhaps the friendliest of tournament football matches they could recall; the horrors of Marseille two years ago when Russian ultras ambushed an England mob a fading memory.

The threat of violence and the attempted assassination of the Russian spy Sergei Skripal on British soil that had ratcheted up tensions between London and Moscow had deterred many supporters from making the arduous journey to Volgograd, a city closer to Tehran than Moscow.

But the reality is - and always was - that Vladimir Putin is on a charm offensive during this World Cup and England’s supporters have been won over.