Russian fans cry foul at visa chaos

Not all the Russian fans who travelled to England actually reached Anfield for their opening fixture against Italy yesterday. It seems that hundreds of Russians who bought tickets for their three Group C fixtures have been refused visas.

Vladimir Modelevsky, who was on the cruise ship Astra, which sailed to Liverpool from Kaliningrad, has managed to bring with him just three of 35 fans who had paid to join his tour group. "Why on earth did England agree to host the Championship if all it wanted to do was turn away foreign fans? All we wanted to do was watch the soccer but they treated us like criminals," he said, waving a thick wad of tickets belonging to the fans still stranded in Russia.