Champions League Final
From May 20 till 22 I provided services for my client from London who came to Moscow with his friend from Poland and father-in-law from Israel to support their favorite team Chelsea against Manchester United in UEFA Champions League Final that took place in Moscow on May 20th. Upon their arrival to Moscow, they checked in to their hotel and relaxed a little a bit after flight. That evening, we went on a night tour of Moscow. I was pleased to see how much they enjoyed Moscow. They told me that they not expected Moscow to be such beautiful city because in West, they tell only negative news or even no news at all about Russia. We took several pictures on the Red Square and Sparrow Hills where you can see great panorama of the main sport stadium (sport arena) in Moscow, Russia called "Luzhniki" and with this news I will post several pictures which I took one day sharp before important game for the cup of Champions.
On May 21st it was cloudy during whole day, but it was not big problem for all fans of English teams (40-50 thousands) who made real festive atmosphere during this day walking around the city wearing t-shirts, holding flags or waving scarves of their favorite teams. The atmosphere in the city was very friendly and there were not any accidents or conflicts between fans reported by our police department. I have to admit that organization of this important sport event which took in Moscow first time was on high level - there were a lot of police, soldiers and special services everywhere. They were very well organized, polite and even friendly and I and my clients were very impressed by this fact.
I will not tell you here about the result of this game, I am sure that everybody in World who likes football (Americans call it soccer) already know the score, but I would like to tell to all fans of Chelsea - it became really good team and maybe it was some misfortune for them under pouring rain at the end of penalties (that I consider the same as lottery) and would like to wish success and victories in future. To be ambassador here, I have to greet Manchester United and their fans that proved the status of their team that became champion for the 3rd time.
Some interesting facts about this important sport event which took place in Moscow, Russia… Moscow city spent more than 30 million USD to prepare and organize what became the most important sporting event in the city since the 1980 Olympics. The UEFA and the British Embassy marked it as first class job. Authorities of sport committee and city told that not so much money will return back to the city from sold tickets and they even can't cover all renovations made in Luzhniki sport stadium which was made before by request of UEFA, but they hope that it helps to increase tourism and sport activities for Moscow in the future. The city government hopes the large investment in present will bring more money in future, but the most important - reputation for the city and Russia basically.
View on the famous St. Basil's Cathedral from Manezhnaya Square. From left side of this picture you can see highlighted walls of the beautiful building of State Historical Museum built in 1870s. The Red Square (as like the Moscow Kremlin on the right from this picture) is located on a hill between the State Historical Museum and the most famous landmark of Moscow - the majestic St. Basil's Cathedral which was commissioned to built by first tsar of Russia Ivan IV (The Terrible) in the middle of 16th century.
Thousands of football fans started arriving to Moscow from Sunday 19 for Wednesday 21. Many of British fans came to Moscow first time and many of them had enough time before the final match of Champions league to visit at least the most famous sites of Moscow as like the Red Square, Moscow Kremlin, GUM, Tverskaya street. Several days before the game, right in the middle of the Red Square, were set up artificial pitch and a Trophy Room where were showed up the Cup of Champions, so thousands and thousands of tourists were able to see even thought to take a picture with the main trophy of UEFA.
In opposite to weird warnings of British media, all British fans was impressed by friendly atmosphere in Moscow city. They not expected such great organization of this sporting event with friendly local citizens, police and special services, so that at the end it was not even any bickering between fans of Manchester United and Chelsea in the city.. They told that in London, for example, it was not chance to hold such peaceful and really festive atmosphere as like in Moscow. British police responded that they will use video tapes taken in Moscow as a good lesson for future mass activities in their country.
On the bottom of this picture you can see a line of colorful tents with metal detectors which were used by police during a day time to check all people coming into the Red Square. This is normal process (we used to) for any mass activities not only in the Red Square or downtown, but everywhere during big holidays or special events.
St. Basil's, cathedral, Red Square, UEFA Final 2008
Note: These Moscow Photos are to help you familiarize yourself with Moscow's Sightseeing and my services. The photos in my albums are protected by international copyright law. You may keep my photos in your personal albums or, you may use these images as personal wallpaper on your computer, but, they are not for distribution (commercial or non-profit). If you would like to buy a specific photo, feel free to make your request via E-mail. I do hope you enjoy my work as photographer. Many of these photos were taken during excursions with my clients. You can find my pictures in Internet under nickname "ArtLook" (short from Arthur Lookyanov) at the follow websites:
Moscow, Russia 
Contact Info: Arthur Lookyanov