With the tournament curtain-raiser just five days away, the 16 teams competing in Euro 2012 were on Monday fine-tuning their preparations or packing their bags to head to co-hosts Poland and Ukraine.
Group A teams Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and Greece were already at their base camps, with the co-hosts due to take on Greece in the capital Warsaw and Russia set to play the Czechs in the southwestern city of Wroclaw on Friday.
Group B teams Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal were due to arrive in Poland on Monday.
Greece jetted in to the Polish capital Warsaw on Sunday, with the pilot expressing the hope of a nation that is in desperate need of some good news, after months of financial and political turmoil.
“I wish you a good tournament and, when you step onto the pitch, may your eyes see only sky blue and white,” UEFA.com reported the flight’s captain as saying. “We Greeks need it,” he added.
The Greeks were surprise winners of Euro 2004 in Portugal and defender Jose Holebas said that no-one should write them off this time round.