‘Russia meets Mo Salah and the atmosphere crackles’: World Cup 2018 diary

Our roving reporter watches Portugal v Spain in the company of a giant polar bear in Kazan and accompanies Peru’s party-hearty hordes to the World Cup’s easternmost city

It says a lot for the difference between fear-stoked preconceptions and the reality of spending a bit of time in a Russian city that I am sad to be leaving Kazan, with its beautiful kremlin by the river, easygoing atmosphere and the memory of watching Portugal v Spain in the stupendously named Snob Lounge with someone dancing in a giant polar bear costume. Kazan is drenched in the friendliness the World Cup conjures up. The locals, particularly the youngsters, enjoy hosting and meeting new people. Equally, the travellers revel in being here. For a city like this to have such an influx of tourists from so many different countries has broadened horizons.

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