Thousands of optimistic England fans descend on Moscow for WC last-16 showdown

Thousands of England fans have flocked to Moscow as Gareth Southgate's team aim to book a World Cup quarter-final place by beating Colombia on Monday night.

But followers of the Three Lions in the Russian capital can expect to be comprehensively outnumbered by a yellow wall of colourful Colombian supporters at the Spartak Arena.

Colombia are one of the best-supported teams at the World Cup, with an estimated 50,000 fans from the South American country currently in Russia.

By contrast, there will be around 6,000 England fans at the game, with approximately 1,500 securing their seats through the England Supporters' Club and the others through the FIFA ballot or other means.

But the number of England supporters making the trip to Russia has swollen as the tournament has progressed and enthusiasm has mounted for Southgate's side.

Fears of hooligan attacks and security issues have proved completely unfounded with fans from all nations made to feel welcome amid a party atmosphere in the host cities.

England's meeting with Colombia has been described as the team's most important match for a decade as they try and set up a quarter-final meeting with either Sweden or Switzerland.

With the England allocation now sold out, online touts have been advertising tickets at more than five times their face value in some cases.

With England finishing second in their group to make it into the supposedly easier side of the knockout draw, England fans have scrambled to make it out to Moscow.

But touts on internet sites and on the ground in Moscow were offering tickets for as much as £685.

Category three tickets, the cheapest available to fans from outside Russia, were originally listed at £83 but were being offered on resale site Viagogo for £360.

Category one tickets, the most expensive available with a face value of £177, were on sale for as much as £513 on the website.

But England flags were being flown in Red Square on Monday night as fans ignore the spiralling costs to head to what is arguably England's most important game since they faced Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

English fans took on their Russian counterparts in a friendly kickaround in the Red Square fan zone on Monday night.

But the scratch English six-a-side team received a 15-1 thrashing from a Russia side that turned out to include former professionals and three players from the women's national team.