The BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford said there had been a lot of interest in the case in Russia as it shed light on the controversial sale of Russia's mineral wealth by the state to a small group of oligarchs in the early 1990s.
And 17-year-old striker Daniel Welbeck, a non-playing member of the 24-man United squad which travelled to Moscow, had to get a taxi to the airport after oversleeping and missing the already delayed team coach.