It took them a stunning 3,361 days to build the long-overdue Arena CSKA. But once they arrived there were fireworks both on and off the field.

Yesterday night the reigning Russian champions CSKA played their first home game at Arena CSKA. Chechen rivals Terek were smashed comfortably 3:0, as witnessed by 26,420 people. Taking into account how late the ticket sales and commercialization began, this may easily be regarded as a sell-out crowd.

© Ruslan Prokhorov, Newscopter.pro

In all fairness, this wasn’t even the first home game for CSKA, who met with local rivals Torpedo for a friendly this time last week (Sunday evening). That game was played without fans, but ended with identical 3:0 victory.

© CSKA Arena

Goal difference so far is stunning, though the stadium’s final balance is much less so. Construction cost grew by 350% between 2006 and 2016. Meanwhile construction, instead of over 2 years, lasted a total of 3,361 days or stunning 9 years and 2 months.

Why? We’ve covered this venue extensively during its construction process and the excerpt of last 9 years can be found in both the construction photos and presentation of StadiumDB’s latest venue!

More on Russia’s tallest stadium (thanks to the 142-meter skyscraper) to come soon!