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Trains, planes and automobiles

Laura Thistlethwaite
15/ 5/2008

UNITED fans are taking any route necessary to get to the Champions League final in Moscow.

Thousands of supporters have had to find costly flights or long-winded journeys to watch their beloved Reds battle it out against Chelsea at the Luzhniki stadium on Wednesday, May 21.

Mark Parsey and nine other regulars at the Station pub, in Didsbury, have bagged themselves a bargain return trip for around £260. The only draw back is it will take them a gruelling 28 hours of non-stop travel to make the 1,600-mile journey.

Mark, his 19-year-old son James, and their pub pals will set off from Manchester at 2am on Tuesday, May 20. They are taking two cars to East Midlands Airport for the 6am 3-hour flight to Riga.

Once in Riga, they will take a 19 hour sleeper train, which arrives in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon, with a few hours to spare before the 10.45pm kick off.

Electrical engineer Mark, from Cheadle, said: "I thought I had booked my train from Riga, but I had a letter back telling me it had been cancelled due to the Champions League final!

"I was working at a hotel in Manchester where one of the house keepers is Latvian; so I asked her if she could speak directly to them. It turned out you had to pay in person for the ticket at Riga station because they don’t take credit cards."

By pure coincidence, his new Latvian acquaintance said her sister, who lives in Riga, was willing to pay the fare and collect the ticket.

Mark added: "I thought I would have to meet her there, but it turned out she was coming on holiday to the UK. She is flying into Liverpool and is meeting me in Manchester so I can pay her then. It is amazing how it all worked out, now I just have to wait to watch United win!"

After a few hours with nowhere to stay in Moscow, Mark and his pals will make the same lengthy trip home; they should be back in time for last orders at the Station on Saturday night.

Fellow supporter, Julian Skyrme, 34, of St Annes Road, Chorlton, paid £460 for flights with a stop-over in Rome.

The Manchester University worker said: "I’ve managed to get a really cheap deal because I could be flexible with my time off work.

"I haven’t got anywhere to stay so I’m really hoping we win so I can just stay out and celebrate all night.

"It’s going to be a bit rubbish if we lose - but I’m not thinking about that.

"There were no flights back on the Thursday, so I’m doing a bit of sightseeing and heading back via Milan on Friday – that’s the only way I could do it."

British Gas worker Francis Forkan, 47, of Carrington Road, Fallowfield, paid £510 for flights via Prague. He said: "There’s ten of us going, we have to go on Monday morning and stop over night in Prague.

"Then I’ve got a two night stay in Moscow which is costing £100-a-night, but it’ll be worth it."

Charter flights carrying United fans will fly into Moscow’s Domededovo airport while Chelsea fans will fly into the city’s two other airports, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.

United were allocated 21,000 tickets but around 1,000 are still up for grabs because of the cost of the trip.

Around 57,000 season ticket holders, 9,000 executive box customers were told they could buy more tickets while the club’s 140,000 members have been told they can register their interest for final tickets.

Official match tickets are priced between £40 and £100, but ones are being sold by touts on the black market for upwards of £2,000.

Fans heading to the game will be searched and have to show their tickets at an outer and an inner cordon as they walk to the ground, which is in the city’s Olympic park.

Two more fan zones, one for United and the other for Chelsea fans, will also be set up inside the second cordon where supporters will be able to drink alcohol and even exchange currency.

Websites are offering day trips, excluding tickets, online for around £900 per person.

Online travel agent www.russiangateway.co.uk, is charging £895 for flights from Manchester Airport, with a 3am return flight from Moscow.

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