At Manchester, England:
Goals from Igor Denisov (72') and Konstatin Zurianov (90'+4) enabled Zenit Saint Petersburg to capture their first international title, defeating Rangers 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday.
Dominant in possession throughout, a repeat of Zenit's 4-0 semi-final triumph against FC Bayern München never looked likely as coach Dick Advocaat's former side proved difficult to break down. The Glasgow outfit had chances of their own at the start of the second half but it merely fired Zenit into life and the cup was effectively theirs 18 minutes from time when Denisov met the ball with a powerful run in midfield, found Andrei Arshavin and then collected the return before coolly sliding it to Neil Alexander's left. Zyrianov doubled the margin with virtually the last kick of the game to spark wild Zenit celebrations.
It is the second time that the trophy was won by a Russian club in the last four years (CSKA Moscow, 2005). Rangers were gunning for their first major European title since winning the UEFA Cup in 1972. Had they won, they would have been the first Scottish club to win a major competition since Aberdeen won the old Cup-Winners Cup in 1983. Getty Images Photo
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