ATHENS — Liverpool fans began to pour into central Athens on Monday ahead of the Reds' Champions League final against AC Milan on Wednesday, thousands without tickets and some still looking for hotel rooms.

News photoLiverpool players and staff arrive at the team's hotel in Athens on Monday. The Reds will play AC Milan in the Champions League final on Wednesday night. AP PHOTO

By Monday evening, Syntagma, the central square of Athens, was teeming with supporters in red shirts as fans started to arrive from John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, England, and hubs around the world.

Special charter flights have been laid on at JLA to ferry supporters to the Greek capital. The bulk of the Liverpool support was expected to arrive from JLA on Tuesday on what was expected to be the busiest day in the airport's history.

Fans in AC Milan shirts were conspicuous by their absence in central Athens, lending credence to a large percentage of the expected 30,000 Liverpool fans somehow getting their hands on final tickets.

But fans who haven't already got a ticket will have to fork out anything up to 1,900 euro (310,000 yen) — the price quoted on some Internet sites — to touts for a seat with a face value of between 80 euro and 200 euro.

Both Liverpool and AC Milan received 17,000 tickets each for the final, around half of the total number of tickets.

Another 20,000 tickets are shared among the "UEFA Family" of officials and corporate guests, while 9,000 were sold to fans around the world in an open ballot earlier this year.

Fans arriving Tuesday without pre-booked hotels were likely to be disappointed in their search for a room.

Over the last two weeks, Internet sites for hotels in central Athens have had no vacancies for Tuesday or Wednesday night and hotels were turning away hopefuls who arrived Monday.

Some fans have been forced to look further afield for accommodation, to the nearby islands of Aegina and Agistri — an hour away by boat from Piraeus port — where there were still some rooms free Monday night.

The party was just getting started Monday evening in Athens but things were a lot different at 5 a.m. that morning — when this correspondent arrived — the square deserted bar a few late-night revelers and taxi drivers.

It wasn't until midday that pockets of Reds supporters began to congregate, drinking beer in the sunshine and singing and dancing for the local camera crews. Locals mingled among the Reds' fans, going about their business, watching in bemusement or joining in the festivities.

There was no sign of trouble and barely a police presence in the area.

If trouble does flair before or after the final, though, the Greek police have said they will fire paint guns at hooligans, enabling them to identify and arrest them. The guns will only be fired outside the stadium.

Syntagma square, adjacent to Parliament and surrounded by luxury hotels like the historical Grande Bretagne, is the location for the "Champions Festival," expected to be the focal point for Liverpool and AC Milan fans over the next few days.

Fans here can find beer booths, official Champions League final merchandise booths and even a futsal pitch.

Not-so-official merchandise also is freely available, with hawkers throughout the city seemingly doing a roaring trade in replica uniforms, hats and T-shirts. Again, it is the red of Liverpool that dominates.

The match venue is Olympic Stadium, where the 2004 opening and closing ceremonies, athletics and soccer for the Athens Games took place. The stadium, a subway journey away from Syntagma in Maroussi, hosted the 1994 Champions League final between AC Milan and Barcelona, the Italians winning 4-0.

The Milanese are looking to win their seventh European Cup after triumphs in 1963, '69, '89, '90, '94 and 2003, and avenge the loss to Liverpool in the 2005 final in Istanbul, when the Reds clawed back a 3-0 halftime deficit and won in a penalty shootout.

The Reds can claim their sixth European Cup in Athens after the '05 triumph and victories in '77, '78, '81 and '84.