Anilava Chatterjee, Moscow: After reaching to moon the Russians painted a place there with red colour. Later when the Americans went there they Coca-Cola on it with white. Earlier in 80’s it was a common ‘joke’ during the cold war between the Soviet Union and America. Later a designer named Alexander Dosolapov made a creative which was called Lenin’s Coca-Cola. It has the image of Lenin and Coca-Cola together. The Coca-Cola Company went to court on this matter. It was said that these’ images might hurt the feelings of Americans. They could imagine that Coca-Cola is supporting the communists and for that reason the company first came in Russia after the arrival of free market economy.
While entering the Luizhniki Stadium one can see a huge statue of Lenin. A lot before this stadium was named after him but with time the name was abolished too like the Soviet Union. Though the statue is still there like before. And under that statue I saw the stall of Coca-Cola. The thing is with time everything has changed here. Now it’s time for the free market economy and for that reason we see the people are selling Coca-Cola in front of the statue of Lenin.
I found some shops like Coca-Cola, Visa and FIFA fan shop on the road towards the stadium. The fans across the globe come here to buy some mementoes. Luzhniki Stadium has a great history as it has organized some memorable events like Olympic opening ceremony, UEFA Champions League Final and now the Final of World Cup 2018. It has a capacity of eighty thousand. It is a beautiful stadium as Moscova River has passed by its side. You can see everything from the stadium. The roaming launches are seen from the stadium. The VIP entry of the stadium is also in this direction. There are two sculptures in the front of the entrance.
A beautiful church can be seen on the far side of the Moscow region. The stadium compound has a training ground, park everything. The 2008 Champions League Final was organized here. Manchester United played against Chelsea. Manchester United won the match in tiebreaker and another star started his journey. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first goal of Red Devils in that match. The fans also choose Ronaldo as the best player. Luzhniki Stadium gave another success to the Portuguese superstar as his flying head from Al Ahmedi’s Boot, showing Diego Costa a little back in front. At the end of the match, Ronaldo looked at the giant screen to watch his goal again and again. In fact, the great people are like that. These are the platforms they chose. Portugal coach Fernando Santos came with Ronaldo in the press conference, saying, “Ronaldo is actually like a Port Wine, as time goes on, the more addiction increases.”