May 7th, 2008
UEFA Cup Final: Zenit St. Petersburg defeats Glasgow Rangers (2-0)
Zenit St. Petersburg became the second Russia squad in the last four seasons to win football UEFA Cup, defeating Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the final match at Old Trafford in Manchester, England.
Igor Denisov staked Zenit to a 1-0 lead in the 72nd minute and Konstantin Zyryanov completed the scoring in injury time.It marked the first UEFA Cup for Zenit coach David Advocaat, who, ironically, coached Rangers from 1998 to 2002. “I feel very happy winning the prize like this,” he said. “The way we played in this tournament, we really deserved this.”Glasgow Rangers has failed to win a European championship since capturing the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972.”Over the tournament, we have worked very hard to get to the final,” Rangers coach Walter Smith said. “There was not that much in it overall and we had a few chances ourselves. Zenit looked the more offensive team. But obviously, at this stage, I’m disappointed to have lost.”Zenit controlled the first half, but Rangers goalkeeper Neil Alexander kept it scoreless with saves on Anatoliy Tymoschuk, Radek Sirl, Zyryanov and Alexander Anyukov. Zenit attacked more and when they were successful against their opponent’s goal, it was quite clear that they will maintain this advantage. Anyway was Zenit who controlled all the match from the very beginning and everybody was convinced that finally Zenit would win.CSKA Moscow was the first Russian team to win the UEFA Cup in 2005.
