Posted April 30, 200817 yr Chelsea Vs Man Utd (THE FINAL) - Moscow - May 21st 2008. Bit early i know, but i cant wait. I have waited almost 30 years for this day, still cannot believe it. Let the talking begin.
May 1, 200817 yr Author Planes, trains, and automobiles? The all-English Champions League final is on and an army of travel agents up and down the land now face more waves of attack from Moscow-inquiring football fans than the bewitching Leo Messi can orchestrate at Manchester United's overworked rearguard. Moscow, in fact, has been THE word dancing across the licked-lips of supporters from Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool for the past month so the question has to be asked: How are you planning to get there? Some Manchester United fans in Barcelona were heard talking of dirt-cheap 1p flights to Latvian capital Riga then a 15-hour train journey via St Petersburg to Moscow. There are even more outlandish routes (via Scandanavia - see above) which are no doubt being explored as direct routes to Moscow become increasingly expensive and rare. As always when it comes to a huge football match which could sell out 20 times over, supporters are divided into two distinct camps - the haves and the have nots. Those with tickets will feel like, erm, Charlie about to enter Willa Wonky's Chocolate Factory. And those without?... Well - Moscow is bound to be a huge challenge, especially accomodation - but judging by most European away trips frequented by the always fervent-British supporters they won't be too put off, and will flock towards the Russian capital regardless. Please do take note of the all-important visa situation, which should be far clearer in the next 48 hours - and (do keep checking) the sensible words of the British Foreign Office. Is it wild excitement you are feeling about a potential Champions League final in the snowy shadow of Red Square? SOURCE
May 1, 200817 yr Not sure about how expensive that route via Helsinki is compared to all the other choices, but here's how I'd probably go about it: Take a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Tampere-Pirkkala airport, which they advertise as being as low as 15€ per flight. I'm not sure if there are any really cheap flights straight to Helsinki, though. They tend to be quite a bit more expensive. Then take a bus from the Tampere-Pirkkala airport straight to Helsinki Railway station, which is a 2,5 hour bustrip and costs 25€ per passenger. Then take the Tolstoi train from Helsinki Railway Station to Moscow. It's a night train that leaves in the evening and arrives in Moscow in the morning. The return tickets between Helsinki and Moscow start at 194€. The train from Moscow leaves in the evening and is in Helsinki next morning. So a return trip to Moscow via Finland(excluding the travel to Stansted) costs around 300€(could be less depending on the flight you choose). That's not cheap, but it still seems to be cheaper than what the direct flights to Moscow cost at the moment. Here are some links to those who want to consider that option: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere-Pirkkala_Airport http://www.seat61.com/Finland.htm#Helsi ... by%20train
May 1, 200817 yr It occurs to me that this final could be an absolute classic. One thing about Man U that's very different from just about any other team we play, is that they won't play defensively. I think this went a long way to enabled our more attacking, more entertaining performance at the weekend. We're constantly accused of grinding out results. Sometimes these accusations are warranted, but all too often, when you think about it, when you have to grind down a defensive minded team, there's very little else you can do. On the other hand, by the team we get to Moscow, both teams could be knackered and we'll have another leg-weary performance similar to the FA Cup Final. At the moment I seriously don't care. To state the obvious, after the all those recent disappointments for now, it's wonderful just to be there, to have finally put the LFC Champions League hoodoo behind us.
May 1, 200817 yr Author Video on getting a visa...... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/audio_ ... itrate=700
May 1, 200817 yr You can (could) get some cheap flights to Riga and then onward flight to Moscow, which wasn't bad price but the only problem was you would have to stay in Moscow / Riga until Friday to get a reasonably priced return flight from Riga. Some hotels were doing deals for football fans.
May 1, 200817 yr Author Just heard on the wireless that if you dont travel with the club you must return straight after the match, no overnight stays.
May 1, 200817 yr Just heard on the wireless that if you dont travel with the club you must return straight after the match, no overnight stays. From what I've heard they've run out of hotel rooms. Rooms available start from a grand a night Nice one UEFA
May 1, 200817 yr We booked our flights and accomodation today, along with visa and match day ticket we have worked it all out to £610, that's if we manage to get a £65 ticket for the game. We are going from Stanstead to Berlin on 20th staying overnight there, then the 10.30 21st going straight to Moscow, using germanwings airline. Taking the same route back but doing it all in the same day 23rd Friday. All hotels we checked are now sold out, we have booked into a hostel which is dirt cheap to get your nut down, 30eur a night. Good luck chaps, looking forward to the party in Russia.
May 6, 200817 yr Author A bit of final themed art: "Englishman in Moscow" UCL final 2008 style. Love the Celery !
May 6, 200817 yr who did that??It's awesome! Kazimir Malevich did the original(back in 1914) and I had a little fun with photoshop by adding some bits to it. It's not a good photoshop job, but I didn't have time to polish it properly. Besides, it's just a but of fun. Do a Google imagesearch for "An Englishman in Moscow" and you can see the original.
May 11, 200817 yr I think someone must've put LSD in my tea: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR - Keep on truckin' (Ow, my eyes...it hurts, it hurts )
May 11, 200817 yr Are you trying out some photoshop styles Maksimov? Maybe... Call it a therapy project. I just felt like going for some outrageous "style" I usually don't go for. I feel a lot better now that I got that out of my system.
May 12, 200817 yr well the good news is that it looks like we will be wearing our lucky shirts for the Final against Manure: the new shirt has brought us a lot of luck in our first game with it . . . our captain nearly breaking his arm and having to be stretchered off, our lone striker who can actually score goals getting a knock on the knee, our players struggling to score a goal against a team with nothing to play for, our team losing the league on the last day . . . yep, that's a lucky shirt, all right. let's hope we can turn our luck around with the 2nd wearing of the new shirt, hey?
May 12, 200817 yr If that text about the final would be any more to the right, it would be sewn on the armpit of the shirt.
May 12, 200817 yr Being Moscow, how come Manyoo are the first team to appear on the shirt and promotional stuff (Manyoo vs Chelsea) Surely we get advantage playing at home
May 12, 200817 yr Wonder how we are gonna put our starting line up out for this game, how is Drogba doing with his fitness, will Terry make it. --------Cech------- Cole - Terry - Ric - Essien ----- Maka ------ --Ballack --Lamps - --Cole ------Malouda - -------Drogba ------ Need to look at the fitness of these players though, i guess that will be the team for Moscow, but impact subs will we be bringing Anelka on or Sheva? for me Sheva is performing alot better than Anelka and deserves to see this final. Also is Kalou fit? Can't wait for this game.
May 13, 200817 yr --------Cech-------Cole - Terry - Ric - Essien ----- Maka ------ --Ballack --Lamps - --Cole ------Malouda - -------Drogba ------ Yep, I would be pretty surprised if that wasn't the team that starts in Moscow. Grant needs to pick his bench well though - needs to have options to close the game down, and options to attack if we go a goal down. I would have a bench of Carlo, Ferreira, Alex, Mikel, SWP, Anelka, Sheva
