RANGERS DREAM DIES

 

(Image taken from BBC)

Well the last British team to reach the UEFA Cup final was Middlesborough in '06 and they got beaten 3-0 in the Philippsstadion. The last time a Scottish side was in the final was in my Halls of Residence days back in '03 and Celtic were beaten 3-2 in extra time by Porto at the Estadio Olimpico in Seville. The last British side to win the competition was Liverpool who beat Alaves in '01 5-4 after extra time at the Westfallenstadion, an insane match if ever there was one. The last Scottish side to win any European competition? 'That' Dons side. That night in Gothenberg 1983, Real Madrid losing 2-1 after extra time at the Nya Ullevi in the old Cup Winners Cup final.

Well Rangers had plans to change all of that. They've had big European nights of their own throughout history, the biggest being winning the 1972 Cup Winners Cup and their current side has both mixed it with Champions League opposition and done jobs on the bigger names in the UEFA Cup. Zenit St Petersberg aren't one of those, they have no history whatsoever but they do have money, Dick Advocaat as manager and clearly a useful team given their own scalps in the earlier rounds. So there you have it, one of the more eclectic UEFA Cup finals at the City of Manchester stadium. Anyone's game.

Well the SPL side may have had the first attack but it was soon Zenit who were running the show and the Gers play reminded me of the NBA basketball team's Detroit Pistons at times - soak up the opposition kill the game as a spectacle and look to win late on. The people who accuse them of playing "anti-football" have a point, but as Neil Alexander kept getting in the way of the Russian team's attacks, no Gers fan was going to care. The Gers had a late free kick which was their best chance of the half. No goals but Walter Smith would have considered that so far so good.

The second half soon became a lot more open, starting with the Gers actually attacking more but that just meant gaps appearing at the other end and the SPL side were dodging more and more bullets. Finally they bit one in the 72nd minute when Andrei Arshavin set up Igor Denisov to run through and score. Rangers threw on every assain they could lay their hands on in response but blew what chances they had and were finished off in injury time when Konstantin Zurianov scrabbled the ball into the net in injury time.

So, Zenit St Petersberg are the winners of the 2008 UEFA Cup. It's not the first time a Russian side has won the competition, even this side of the Millenium but for a team that I hadn't even heard of before they faced Everton in the group stages this year, it's one hell of an acheivement. The congratulations is through gritted teeth from a British perspective but Zenit were certainly the better side on the night. They'll be an interesting proposition in the Champions League next season.

 

Back to domestic football, the 2nd leg of the Championship playoffs semi finals took place this week. Hull beat Watford 4-1 in the Kingston Communications Stadium. Bristol City beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Ashton Gate to leave a team based less than 100 miles away from me one game away from the Premiership. The final is Hull vs Bristol City at Wembley and the idea of either side in the top flight sounds very strange indeed.

Talking about wierd matches. Portsmouth vs Cardiff. In the FA Cup final. Could be interesting.

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