You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore has confirmed the club will pay all visa costs for supporters travelling to Russia for their Champions League clash with Spartak Moscow later this month.

The Reds have been allocated 2,200 tickets for the match at the Otkritie Arena on Tuesday, September 26 and with visas at £118.80 the gesture could cost more than £250,000.

Travelling fans need to purchase a visa from the Russia consulate in Manchester and then Liverpool will reimburse them.

Moore told the ECHO: “When we saw the draw and how the fixtures panned out over the next few months, Sparktak became our first away game so there was a tight timeline,

“Straightaway, our team here started working out the complexities our fans would face - travel, visa requirements, cost, security - all of that came into play.

“Our operations and travel team started to talk to the Russian Embassy. The last time this happened there were only two places to get a visa, Edinburgh and London.

“Last time there was a much longer period after the draw was made to facilitate that and we were able to get the Russian Embassy to come here with a finger print machine.

"This time that wasn’t possible as the machine would only process so many people in the short period of time they’d allow it to be out of London. With Manchester now having a Russian consulate with a finger print machine there, that issue has gone away.

“Next we looked at how we can help our fans with the £109 visa cost plus the £9.80 postage. We made a decision that we can take care of covering those costs. Fans just need to get a receipt for their visa.

“If every ticket is allocated, everyone gets a visa, everyone is UK based and everyone goes and can prove it, we’re looking at paying back around £250,000.”

Manchester United announced earlier this week that they would do the same for supporters heading to their game against CSKA Moscow in Russia on September 27. Moore insists Liverpool following suit wasn’t a response to that.

“We conducted our own thorough and robust process,” he added.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“United went through this last year (when they played FC Rostov), this was a new process for Liverpool and we needed to put some thought into it.

“We take very seriously our obligation to make things as easy as possible for our fans. Moscow right now isn’t an easy place to get to and isn’t an easy place from a security perspective.

“We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing by our supporters. There were liability issues we needed to think through. It’s easy to write a cheque but there’s a moral and security obligation that we felt we needed to go through. We had those conversations with the Russian Embassy.

“We’ve made what’s unprecedented for us with the offer to reimburse our fans for the cost of their visas as we believe it’s the right thing to do.

“We have reconnaissance teams on the ground in Moscow next week who will report back. We would have liked that to happen first but we recognise that our fans need to make a decision on flights, hotels and tickets.

“Now there’s time for our fans to go to Manchester, get their visa and book knowing there’s £118 they don’t have to budget for to make the trip to Moscow.”

Supporter group Spirit of Shankly welcomed the move.

In a statement, they said: "Spirit of Shankly are delighted that Liverpool have announced they will reimburse visa costs for supporters travelling to Moscow for our Champions League game on Tuesday 26 September.

"It has been an anxious few days hoping for a positive decision. Now it has been made club officials who have listened to what we have had to say should be applauded. In taking action they have demonstrated that they do value the role supporters play in the club's success.

"It is a positive outcome that shows the benefits of supporter engagement. When done properly, both the club and it's loyal following can profit."