Every seat is reserved in slotxo the pubs and restaurants near the two giant screens in central Kyiv's fan zone, for Ukraine's first ever appearance in a European Championship quarter final.
"When we screened the Ukraine v Sweden game people screamed and jumped upon the tables," says Vitaliya Osadcha, who's expecting a full house at her nearby Porter Pub for Saturday's match against England. "We do our best to stop the spread of Covid-19, taking all the precautions, but when the fans get excited, they don't listen to us!"
For Ukraine the game is even more intense because of the way England knocked them out in Euro 2012.
"Football fortune appears to have paid us back. Let's remember that disallowed goal," said President Volodymyr Zelensky this week, referring to a shot that many Ukrainians were convinced crossed the line.
Nine years on, Ukraine's footballers are in Rome and levels of excitement and national pride have reached a peak.
That 2012 match still touches a nerve because it took place in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. Two years afterwards it was seized by Russian-backed separatists and they hold it to this day.
The team's success in reaching the quarter-finals has given Ukrainians a much-need emotional release. They have suffered seven years of war in the east and long months of Covid lockdowns and a slow and difficult vaccination rollout.
The war in the east is a constant source of tension.
For a start, Ukraine manager Andriy Shevchenko has stopped selecting players from the Russian league, including top defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy.