Euro 2020: Can the magic of Bordeaux be repeated in Baku?
Baku #Baku
By Carl RobertsBBC Sport Wales
image copyrightGetty Images image captionBaku will host Wales’ Euro 2020 opener on Saturday
Bordeaux and Baku – both cities will forever be associated with the golden age of Welsh football.
After this weekend both will have played host to Wales’ opening matches in the European Championships.
Wales’ journey to the Euro 2016 semi final began in the Bordeaux, France. On Saturday, the Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan’s capital will host Wales’ Euro 2020 opener against Switzerland.
But the cities aren’t just linked by Welsh football.
Both signed a twinning agreement over 40 years ago, making them sister cities.
image captionOn Saturday Baku’s Olympic Stadium will host Wales’ Euro 2020 opener against Switzerland
They also share history as port cities, as centres of culture and a winemaking tradition.
Bordeaux has a mythical status among Wales fans who watched their team beat Slovakia 2-1 at Euro 2016.
Tens of thousands made the trip and made the city a Welsh enclave for a week in June 2016.
You’ve got to look harder in Baku to find Wales fans ahead of the Euro 2020 opener against Switzerland – but as kick-off approaches several bricks of the ‘Red Wall’ are assembling in the Azeri capital.
image copyrightGetty Images image captionNational team shirts have been hung in Azerbaijan’s capital
Both the Football Association of Wales and Welsh Government advised against travel to Baku – Azerbaijan is on the UK Government’s Amber travel list.
On Friday afternoon a surge of red flowed through Baku’s impressive Heydar Aliyev International Airport as Wales fans decked out in national team colours made their way to Arrivals.
‘A nervous wait’
image captionImran Rassid says he is excited to be in Baku
Imran Rassid from Bethesda in Gwynedd arrived on Friday afternoon after leaving home on Thursday night.
“I’m really glad to be here – we didn’t know until yesterday, until we had our [Covid] test results back, that we’d actually be here.
“It was a nervous wait so I am excited to be here.”
image captionFreya Powell is relieved to be in Baku
Freya Powell was on the same flight: “It’s a massive relief, I committed [to the trip] prior to Covid, everything was booked and ready to go. Two matches in Baku and one in Italy. We’ve forgone Italy but I’m just glad we are here in Baku.”
image captionKate Parker says the atmosphere in Baku is buzzing
Kate Parker from Ynysybwl in Rhondda Cynon Taf landed in Baku in high spirits, wearing a fluffy sheep hat and her Wales shirt.
“It’s amazing, absolutely amazing,” she said.
“Now we are finally here it is buzzing, the atmosphere is buzzing, it’s great.”
Baku is some 3,000 miles from Wales – and pre-pandemic there would have been thousands of fans making the trip for part two of Wales Euro adventures.
Instead there will be just hundreds of Wales supporters inside the futuristic and vast Olympic Stadium – cheering on behalf of three million back home.