English Premier League football club Arsenal has held talks with Dynamo Moscow over the possibility of playing in the first match at the Russian Premier League side’s new stadium.
The VTB Arena is due to open next year, after Russia’s staging of the Fifa World Cup. The 27,000-capacity stadium had initially been included as a host venue for the national team tournament, but had to withdraw when it became clear that the facility would not be ready early enough.
Dynamo had held discussions with Spanish LaLiga club Barcelona about opening the stadium but an agreement could not be reached, and Arsenal is now being lined up as an alternative.
A press spokesman for Dynamo told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “We talked with Barcelona about the opening match after the World Cup and before the Russian Championship, but the dates did not suit.
“There has been contact with Arsenal and negotiations are ongoing. It would be a beautiful turn in history, because everyone remembers the Dynamo tour of England in the post-war period.”
Dynamo travelled to London in 1945 and defeated the Gunners 4-3 at White Hart Lane, home of rival club Tottenham Hotspur.
The VTB Arena complex will also include a 12,000-capacity ice hockey venue, as well as a shopping and entertainment centre, office blocks, apartments and hotels.
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