British fans will be allowed into Russia for the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea on May 21 after, on May 13, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed an amended law, allowing the suspension of visa regulations for major sports events.

The final in Moscow will be the first time that two English teams will square off for the trophy, but Russia’s cumbersome procedures for obtaining a visa, compounded by Moscow’s strained relations with the UK in recent years, gave rise to fears that tens of thousands of fans would be unable to attend the match.

They will now be able to enter the country without visas, provided they can show tickets for the match.

Even with the visa obstacle out of the way, fans of the two teams face a long 2500km journey to the Russian capital. Sky-high hotel prices and the dearth of travelling options gave rise to renewed criticism of UEFA, the game’s governing body in Europe, for yet again choosing a city in the east of the continent to host its showpiece event.

The final itself pits two teams desperate for European success. Despite dominating English football and winning 10 league titles, Manchester United has only lifted the European Cup once under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson. After stumbling at the semi-final stage twice, Chelsea is at last in the position to deliver the trophy that its billionaire owner Roman Abramovich covets most.

The duo have gone to the wire in the league, with United pipping their London rivals to win the title on the last weekend of the season. Boasting the Premier League’s most free-scoring attack, the most dangerous player in Cristiano Ronaldo, but also the stingiest defence, the Red Devils go into the match as favourites with most bookmakers.
“If we win the European Cup I think you would have to put this group of players right at the very top of those I have worked with,” Ferguson said on May 12.

“It is an emerging team. We have a lot of young players. (Wayne) Rooney, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Carlos) Tevez, Anderson, Nani, (Darren) Fletcher. But you also need experienced players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar.

“That kind of experience allows young players to develop. The future is bright and we are all looking forward to Moscow,” Ferguson said.

But that is unlikely to intimidate Chelsea, which won the last encounter between two teams, 2:1 in April. Manager Avram Grant expects captain John Terry and striker Didier Drogba both to be fit for the match and insisted that United were not the better team.

“I don’t think any team has the advantage,” Grant said on May 13. “We’ve played two times against them this season, we won two weeks ago and we lost at Old Trafford in my first game.