It will be the hottest ticket in town - not a seat at the Champions League final, but the invitation to join Roman Abramovich to celebrate the event.

The billionaire governor of the far-flung Russian region of Chukotka has spent more than £500million to transform Chelsea since he bought the club in 2003. The final in Moscow will represent the bonanza dividend on that investment if the team that Abramovich built are crowned kings of Europe on his home soil on May 21.

Abramovich, 41, was curiously absent from Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to witness Chelsea's semi-final triumph over Liverpool. His spokesman, John Mann, blamed “business commitments” but would not elaborate. Rumours have circulated for weeks that Abramovich has booked out numerous restaurants, nightclubs and hotels to entertain friends planning to visit Moscow for the final. Mann described these claims as untrue and, given the tycoon's aversion to personal publicity, it would be out of character for him to be seen in Moscow splashing money.

But Abramovich, who is worth an estimated $24.3billion (about £12.3 billion), has made no secret of his desire to win the Champions League above all other competitions and the temptation may be too great now that the team are so close to delivering the grand prize. One potential venue for an after-match bash is Moscow's swanky GQ restaurant and bar, where Abramovich was spotted dining recently. It is co-owned by Arkady Novikov, Moscow's top restaurateur, whose establishments are favourite watering holes of the city's moneyed elite.

Moscow City Council has reserved ten hotels solely for visiting Uefa officials, including two five-star hotels for the teams. Should Chelsea triumph, Abramovich may opt to hold his celebration party at the club's hotel, giving his Russian guests the added thrill of mixing with the players who brought him glory.

Claudio Ranieri and José Mourinho lost his confidence as managers for failing to get past the semi-final stage and Avram Grant's tenure in the job was also in the balance before Wednesday's win. Failure to deliver glory for the ruthless Abramovich in front of his friends in Moscow may still cost Grant dear and not only for footballing reasons.

Politics and sport are never far apart in Russia, where maintaining face is a big issue in the world of power relations. With a change of leadership in the Kremlin next week, when Dmitri Medvedev succeeds Vladimir Putin as President, what better inauguration gift than for “Chelski” to show that Russian money has conquered Europe in a country that is fanatical about football?

The Russian connection to Chelsea means that there is heightened interest in the outcome among ordinary fans here, although Moscow's football romantics are more thrilled at the prospect of seeing Manchester United grace their city.

Even Russians without connections to Abramovich will be turning out at lavish celebrations. Moscow's rich and beautiful need few excuses to party in a city in which the oil-fuelled boom has given extravagance new meaning. Table reservations at the most exclusive nightclubs can cost as much as $15,000 (about £7,600).

This may be small change to Russia's 110 dollar billionaires and 131,000 millionaires, but English fans planning to gatecrash “elitny” Champions League parties will confront another aspect of modern Moscow in the form of fierce “feis kontrol” - or face control - by bouncers, many of whom are veterans of the former KGB.