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.

This season’s UEFA Champions League Final will see Chelsea - Manchester United go head to head in arguably the biggest match ever played between two English clubs. Of course it’s not being played on English soil, with both teams and their fans travelling to Moscow for the 21 May showdown at Luzhniki Stadium. This will be the third occasion where two teams from the same country – England – will play the final match of the Champions League joining two other countries – Spain and Italy – that have done the same. In year 2000 it was Real Madrid and Valencia who played the final match at Saint Denis Stadium in Paris (Real Madrid win 3-0) and in year 2003 Milan and Juventus have done the same at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester (Milan win 3-2 pen). Europe’s top club competition has never featured two English sides in the Final before. But Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers did contest the UEFA Cup Final over two legs in 1972. In the early years of the competition two English sides couldn’t meet, because only the League Champions were able to enter. Manchester United entered as holder in 1968, but avoided Manchester City in the First Round draw and City were surprisingly knocked out by Fenerbahce from Turkey. In 1977 Liverpool won the ‘European Cup’, as we called it in those days, but they were League Champions too.Manchester United and Chelsea FC will fight for this year European crown and the winner will receive the competition trophy number 53.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists there is an air of calm around the club ahead of two massive weeks which could determine Manchester United domestic and European fate. The Reds are within two wins of a tenth league triumph, while Barcelona lie in the wait in the Champions League semi-final, the first leg of which takes place at the Nou Camp on Wednesday 23^rd April and the second leg at Old Trafford on Tuesday 29^th April. Sir Alex Ferguson is calling on United supporters attending the Barcelona home game on Tuesday 29 April to make Old Trafford a “sea of red and white”. The Reds boss believes fans have a real part to play in the remainder of this season and says that, with the help of United’s support, the home leg of the Champions League semi final against the Barça could be a memorable occasion. Many of Old Trafford’s greatest atmospheres have come in European games – Barça ’84, Porto ’77, Inter ’99, Rome last season – and Sir Alex is urging fans to help add Barcelona 2008 to that list and become again the 12^th man on the pitch.
If it’s like that on that night with our supporters bringing their red and white scarves it should be fantastic. We want to make sure it’s a real sea of red and white, and if we can do that we have a big, big chance of reaching the final. We know that not all fans are keen on wearing a scarf to the match but we’re calling on all Reds to make an exception for what is the biggest game of the season so far.
Sir Alex believes the backing of the fans really gives the players a lift – so show your colours, exercise your vocal cords and let’s roar the lads to Moscow. So many things can happen, the important thing is how you handle those things. Sir Alex is confident that it can be done in the best possible way.”