Roman Abramovich's face was full of boyish dejection as he watched the Russian football team become the first to be eliminated from Euro 2004 last Wednesday. But the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club will have no doubt been cheered up by the presumed main purpose of his presence in Portugal – shopping for Europe's best footballers.
The competition is a big shop window for Abramovich â and he can well afford the multi-million-euro transfer fees and lavish salaries demanded by the world's top players. He has already spent more than €200m on transfer fees in a year.
