Russians Zenit have won their first ever UEFA Cup after beating Rangers 2-0 in a hard-fought Final in Manchester.
Having already thrashed Bayern Munich 4-0 in the semi-finals, Dick Advocaat’s Zenit St Petersburg finished the job at the City of Manchester stadium despite missing suspended competition top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Zenit were undoubtedly the more attacking side – as expected – but struggled to find a way through the Glaswegian brick wall that had already frustrated Fiorentina in the last round.
Neil Alexander parried a fierce effort from Aleksandr Anyukov and Kirk Broadfoot was fortunate to escape with a handling offence on the stroke of half-time.
Yet the Scots also had a great chance to score when a combination of goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev and midfielder Igor Denisov – with another possible handball – managed to stop Jean-Claude Darcheville’s finish crossing the line.
Zenit continued to threaten and were unfortunate not to score when Andrei Arshavin sprung the offside trap and went round the stranded Alexander only for Sasa Papac to perform a goalline clearance on his lob.
Rangers were finally beaten after eight hours without a conceding a goal in the UEFA Cup. It was a well-worked team move, as Igor Denisov exchanged passes with Arshavin at speed to tear the defence apart.
Konstantin Zyrianov should have made it 2-0 moments later, but thumped the outside of the post from six yards.
Darcheville went close to a shock equaliser in stoppages, but was crowded out by defenders and Nacho Novo blasted over from the throw-in.
Instead Zenit put the victory beyond doubt with another good passing move, as Tekke sprung the offside trap on Arshavin’s through ball and rolled back for a simple Zyrianov tap-in.
Zenit 2-0 Rangers
Scorers: Denisov 72 (Z), Zyrianov 94 (Z)
Zenit: Malafeev, Krizanac, Tekke, Arshavin, Sirl, Shirokov, Zyrianov, Faytzulin (Kim Dong Jin 93), Aniukov, Denisov, Tymoschuk
Rangers: Alexander, Weir, Papac (Novo 77), Ferguson, Hemdani (McCulloch 80), Thomson, Darcheville, Broadfoot, Cuellar, Whittaker (Boyd 86), Davis
Ref: Frojdfeldt (Swe)
