Zenit St Petersburg beat Rangers to win Uefa Cup

10:50 Thu 15 May 2008

Zenit St Petersburg beat Rangers 2-0 in the Uefa Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium last night. The 30,000 Rangers fans inside the ground left disappointed as Zenit were by far the better side on the night, fully deserving of their win.

Rangers took a defensive approach to the game with Nacho Novo and Lee McCulloch consigned to the bench and fullback Steven Whittaker deployed on the wing. The Glasgow side kept Zenit at bay until the 72nd minute when Andrei Arshavin split the Rangers defence setting up Igor Denisov to score. Konstantin Zyrianov bagged a second in stoppage time.

Walter Smith's side progression to the Uefa Cup final had been based on soaking up pressure and hitting their technically superior opponents on the break, and while they showed occasional flashes of attacking intent last night, Rangers were far too conservative throughout. Their lack of a plan B after going 1-0 down only served to further underline this point.

Zenit 2 Rangers 0