2008 UEFA Cup Final
| 2008 UEFA Cup Final |
|---|
| Winner |
| Zenit St. Petersburg |
| Runner-up |
| Rangers |
| Score |
| 2 – 0 |
| Date |
| 14 May 2008 |
| Venue |
| City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester |
| Man of the Match |
| Andrei Arshavin |
| Website |
| UEFA Cup |
The match was contested by Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia and Rangers of Scotland. It was billed as a battle of Rangers managerial staff, with ex-boss Dick Advocaat, currently the manager of Zenit, pitted against current boss Walter Smith, who has had two stints as manager of Rangers, with both completing the Scottish domestic treble; Smith in 1993, Advocaat in 1999.
Zenit won the match 2–0, with goals coming from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov, to win Zenit their first UEFA Cup title, and make them only the second Russian side to win the competition, after CSKA Moscow in 2004–05.
The logo of the final shows a picture of the City of Manchester Stadium, created by English artist Liam Spencer. It was unveiled at a ceremony in the stadium on December 6.
Route to the final
Knockout stage
| Zenit St. Petersburg | Rangers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Villarreal H 1–0 | Pogrebnyak 63' | Round of 32 First leg | Panathinaikos H 0–0 | ||
| Villarreal A 1–2 Zenit St. Petersburg won on away goals | Pogrebnyak 31' | Second leg | Panathinaikos A 1–1 Rangers won on away goals | Novo 81' | |
| Marseille A 1–3 | Arshavin 82' | Round of 16 First leg | Werder Bremen H 2–0 | Cousin 45' Davis 47' | |
| Marseille H 2–0 Zenit St. Petersburg won on away goals | Pogrebnyak 39', 78' | Second leg | Werder Bremen A 0–1 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen A 4–1 | Arshavin 20' Pogrebnyak 52' Anyukov 61' Denisov 64' | Quarter-finals First leg | Sporting H 0–0 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen H 0–1 | Second leg | Sporting A 2–0 | Darcheville 60' Whittaker 90+2' | ||
| Bayern Munich A 1–1 | Lúcio 60' (o.g.) | Semi-finals First leg | Fiorentina H 0–0 | ||
| Bayern Munich H 4–0 | Pogrebnyak 4', 73' Zyryanov 39' Fayzulin 54' | Second leg | Fiorentina A 0–0 (a.e.t.) Rangers won 4–2 on penalties | ||
Pre-match
Zenit and Michel Platini asked the British government to ease visa procedures for Russian fans, despite Russia having cancelled visas for British fans travelling to 2008 UEFA Champions League Final in Moscow. However, the Director for British Visa Services for the CIS, Mandy Ivemy, said that "for the U.K. government, visas and biometric checks are a vital part of immigration policy, and we are not prepared to waive them".
Teams
Zenit St. Petersburg were without the competition's top scorer, Pavel Pogrebnyak, who had picked up two bookings in the knockout stages of the tournament and was therefore suspended. However, they were able to call upon their other star names such as attacking midfielders Andrei Arshavin and Konstantin Zyryanov, as well as holding midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk.Walter Smith started with Jean-Claude Darcheville on his own up-front, with a five man midfield supporting him comprising Steven Davis, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker, Barry Ferguson and Brahim Hemdani. Neil Alexander was making only his 10th start in goal for Rangers.
Match details
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Man of the Match:
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit) Assistant referees:
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Match statistics
| Zenit | Rangers | |
|---|---|---|
| Goals scored | 2 | 0 |
| Total shots | 19 | 8 |
| Shots on target | 8 | 3 |
| Ball possession | 56% | 44% |
| Corner kicks | 9 | 2 |
| Fouls committed | 12 | 12 |
| Offsides | 3 | 0 |
| Yellow cards | 2 | 1 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Fan violence
The event was marred by fans rioting in Manchester city centre, with BBC News 24 interrupting normal programming to broadcast the riots live on television, and ITN's flagship News at Ten programme giving extensive coverage to the riots.
A Zenit fan was also attacked and stabbed, originally six Rangers fans were arrested on suspicion of grevious bodily harm however all were released without charges being brought.
See also
References
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 06:01:21 PDT (GMT -0700)
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