Soccer
Moscow ready for English invasion, but are fans ready for it
By DPA
May 14, 2008, 11:35 GMT

Moscow ­ There's a ticket in town that is the envy of every businessman - not because it has the power to make men giddy or is worth a reported 10,000 dollars on the black market, but because its proud owner can bypass the normal Russian visa nightmare.

Moscow has extraordinarily waived visa requirements and opened its doors to the 42,000 English football fans lucky enough to secure a seat at the Chelsea, Manchester United Champions League final hosted in the capital on May 21.

Russia's visa regime recently grew tougher in the throws of a protracted dispute with Britain over the killing of ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London, but Moscow city authorities promised their utmost to pull off the event.

'The city of Moscow has taken every measure possible to ensure comfortable conditions for the thousands of international fans. For us this is an absolute priority,' Moscow deputy mayor Valery Vinogradov said Friday.

The difficulty and cost to fans undertaking the trip should by rights make it a first class ticket, but fans arriving in Russia's grey megapolis may feel their wallets and wits squeezed in spite of the city's best efforts to prepare.

If your not Chelsea's tycoon owner Roman Abromovich or one of Moscow's 110 other billionaires, a face-to-face encounter with the world's highest prices may not lend itself to boasts but choking.

Moscow is well known for its dearth of mid-range accommodation. But in spite hoteliers' inflated prices during the Champions League final all of the rooms are all already booked out, authorities say.

A call to the Ritz-Carlton opened near Red Square last year confirmed that even their suits running upward of 8,000 dollars per night had been reserved.

As Londoners see such double-barrel figures loading on their internet pages, many have become inventive, planning stop-overs all across Europe and seeking accommodation in the apartments of Russian 'babushka' (grandmothers) or even on boats parked up the Moskva River.

Upon arrival, Moscow City authorities have made provisions to spare jet-lagged fans what can be hours of traffic from the airport and the eyesore of fans from the rival team.

'So that the 21,000 fans from each team do not get stuck in traffic on the way from the airport to 'Luzhniki' (stadium), special lanes will be reserved for the buses,' Vinogradov said in an interview with Kommersant daily.

Moscow has also opened its smallest airport Vnukovo to keep opposing fans apart and provided 700 buses marked with the two teams' emblems to ferry them to the stadium.

'At the stadium fans from the different clubs will be sat on opposite bleachers, without any possibility to meet,' Moscow's deputy mayor said, promising all security precautions had been taken.

The plastic pitch at Luzhniki stadium, though ideal for Russia's winters, has been freshly laid with fresh turf to suit the foreign visiting teams.

And Moscow's spacious and heavily-used metro will stay open until 4 am to allow fans to navigate the Cyrillic-labelled network toward a compulsory drink.

Those expecting pre-perestroika prices, however, are in for a shock. A sumptuous nightlife has bloomed with Russia's oil revival, but it studiously ignores the middle-class catering extravagantly to the city's new super-rich.

Fans will first have to push their way past Moscow's notorious 'feis kontrol' (face control) often guarding the door in bulk at exclusive nightspots.

A preference for groups of male clientele may work in favour of fans, but they may think twice before buying a leggy Russian girl a drink after a taste of cocktails that easily outdo London prices.

Deputy mayor Vinogradov enthuses that 'Moscow, a city with the colossal history and experience of hosting the largest international events, is completely ready,' but it will be a difficult test with many English fans already wondering whether it would not make more sense to hold the final at Wembley.