Fans and Moscow recover after final

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Manchester United fans celebrate Champions League win

By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow

The victorious Manchester United squad left Moscow looking bleary-eyed but still jubilant after a very long night celebrating their win over rivals Chelsea.

They were besieged by fans and the media both inside and outside their five-star hotel in the centre of the Russian capital as they prepared for the journey home.

After throwing his bags into the hold of the team coach, the star winger Cristiano Ronaldo told the BBC his future was with Manchester United despite much speculation that he may be looking to move on, possibly to the Spanish Club, Real Madrid.

Also boarding the bus home was the legendary English footballer Sir Bobby Charlton who on Wednesday night led the Manchester United team up the steps of the Luzhniki stadium to receive their winners' medals.

He said he had been literally shaking as he watched the final because he was so desperate for his former team to win.

Sir Bobby Charlton praised the 'sensational' Ronaldo

He also poured praise on Ronaldo even though he missed his penalty.

"He's a marvellous player and a sensational entertainer," Sir Bobby said, “people like him don't come along often.”

With both teams and most fans now having left Moscow, the city is returning to a more normal pace of life after the extraordinary excitement and tension of the past three days.

What some had predicted would be a disastrous final because of Russian bureaucracy, fears of fan violence and police heavy-handiness, in fact turned out to be the festival of football the government here had hoped for.

While some fans did complain about the huge cost of travelling to Russia for what was an all-English final, most of those we interviewed this week were positive about their experience here.

The word "fantastic" came up frequently in response to questions about how they'd been received by the Russian population and about the organisation of the event by the authorities.

Little trouble

Crucially despite the dire predictions of what might happen with an invasion of more than 40,000 English football fans, there was very little trouble in the city either before or after the match.

The big flash-point had been expected to come when the final whistle was blown launching one set of fans back into the city filled with lager, frustration and disappointment.

The way the match unfolded seemed to make this all the more likely.

Sitting in the stadium amongst the Chelsea fans, I could sense the anger building with the referee whom they accused of awarding many unfair free-kicks to Manchester United.

There was also the example set by the players themselves on the pitch as they confronted each other in a fracas which led to Didier Drogba being sent off for slapping Nemanja Vidic.

Moscow's police were out in force for the match

Despite all this and the cruelty of the deciding penalty shoot-out, the Chelsea fans melted away peacefully into the rain-soaked night, heading either directly to the airport to fly back home or to drown their sorrows in the city centre.

So at long last the Russian authorities can now breathe a sigh of relief and reflect on what has been a very successful staging of a big sporting event.

They knew much was riding on this as the Kremlin is keen to bid for other big international fixtures and tournaments to be held in the country.

Even ordinary Muscovites who have no interest in football seem to have taken the past few days in their stride.

On my way to the stadium on Wednesday night, I saw a conservatively-dressed middle-aged woman sitting on the metro amid a very loud, high-spirited group of Manchester United supporters.

They sang, thumped the roof of the carriage and passed round the vodka.

At first the woman looked rather alarmed, but then gradually a wry smile spread across her face.