Only the arrival of an armoured car laden with cash persuaded the Moscow airport authorities to fuel their plane and let the Russian team fly to Kiev.

And only some slack marking when the game was already beyond reach allowed the to restore some respectability before 82,000 passionate fans.

"Players cannot help but be worried and to some extent distracted by what's going on in the country," Russia's new Ukrainian-born coach Anatoly Byshovets said, praising the way his makeshift foreign legion hung on after Chelsea goalkeeper Dmitry Kharin was sent off.

"We could have scored a lot more," Ukraine coach Josef Sabo said. "Our tactics worked like a dream."

The normal Dynamo Kiev strike partnership of Andriy Shevchenko and Serhiy Rebrov played deep and wide, leaving the Russians bemused and creating space for Serhiy Popov and Serhiy Skachenko, the two first-half scorers.