2008 UEFA Cup Final

final

The 2008 UEFA Cup Final was the 37th final of the UEFA Cup. It is UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The match was played at the City of Manchester Stadium. It is the home stadium of Manchester City F.C., in Manchester, England,[1] at 20:45 CEST (19:45 local time) on 14 May 2008.

2008 UEFA Cup Final
Event2007–08 UEFA Cup
Date14 May 2008
VenueCity of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
Man of the MatchAndrei Arshavin (Zenit)
RefereePeter Fröjdfeldt (Sweden)
Attendance43,878
WeatherSunny
16°C
43% humidity
2007
2009

The match was played by Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia and Rangers of Scotland. It was called a battle of Rangers coaching staff, with ex-boss Dick Advocaat, currently the manager of Zenit against current boss Walter Smith. Smith has had two times as manager of Rangers. Both coaches led the Rangers to the Scottish domestic treble; Smith in 1993 and Advocaat in 1999.

Zenit won the match 2–0. They had goals from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov. It was their first UEFA Cup title. It made 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 first shown at a ceremony in the stadium on December 6.[2]

Route to the final

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Knockout stage

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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 CP
H
0 - 0
  Bayer Leverkusen
H
0 - 1
Second leg   Sporting CP
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

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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".[3]

Meanwhile, there was a mass flow of Rangers fans into Manchester. Over a hundred thousand supporters 'invaded' the city despite the club's official ticket allocation being just 13,000 and police requests for fans to stay at home. The influx of people resulted in there being no vacant hotel rooms in a twenty-mile radius of the city and the total amount of money that was ploughed into the local economy was estimated to be around £25 million.[4]

Rangers' home ground, Ibrox, was opened to show a live beamback of the match to approximately 30,000 spectators. Fans queued overnight for a seat in the stadium. The capacity was reached more than two hours before kick-off.[5]

Team news

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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.[6] 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.

Rangers manager 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 tenth start in goal for Rangers, first choice keeper Allan McGregor was injured.

Match details

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Zenit St. Petersburg  2 - 0  Rangers
Denisov   72'
Zyryanov   90+4'
Report
 
 
 
 
 
Zenit St. Petersburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rangers
ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG:
GK 16   Vyacheslav Malafeev   90+2'
RB 22   Aleksandr Anyukov
CB 4   Ivica Križanac
CB 15   Roman Shirokov
LB 11   Radek Šírl
DM 44   Anatoliy Tymoschuk (c)
RM 18   Konstantin Zyryanov
LM 27   Igor Denisov   72'
RW 20   Viktor Fayzulin   90+3'
LW 10   Andrei Arshavin
CF 9   Fatih Tekke
Substitutes:
GK 1   Kamil Čontofalský
DF 5   Kim Dong-Jin   90+3'
MF 2   Vladislav Radimov
MF 25   Fernando Ricksen
MF 57   Aleksei Ionov
MF 88   Olexandr Gorshkov
FW 7   Alejandro Domínguez
Manager:
  Dick Advocaat
 
RANGERS:
GK 13   Neil Alexander
RB 21   Kirk Broadfoot   90+4'
CB 3   David Weir
CB 24   Carlos Cuéllar
LB 5   Saša Papac   77'
DM 7   Brahim Hemdani   80'
RM 28   Steven Whittaker   86'
CM 6   Barry Ferguson (c)
CM 8   Kevin Thomson
LM 35   Steven Davis
CF 19   Jean-Claude Darcheville
Substitutes:
GK 16   Graeme Smith
DF 30   Christian Dailly
MF 11   Charlie Adam
MF 39   Amdy Faye
FW 9   Kris Boyd   86'
FW 10   Nacho Novo   77'
FW 27   Lee McCulloch   80'
Manager:
  Walter Smith

Man of the Match:
  Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg)[7]

Assistant referees:
  Stefan Wittberg
  Henrik Andren
Fourth official:
  Martin Ingvarsson

Match statistics

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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

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Police split Zenit and Rangers fans

The event was marred by fans rioting in Manchester city centre; these riots started after a big screen that was due to show the match had failed. BBC News 24 interrupted normal programming to broadcast the riots live on television.[8] ITN's flagship News at Ten programme gave a lot of coverage to the riots.[9][10][11][12]

A Zenit fan was also attacked and stabbed.[13] Six Rangers fans were arrested on suspicion of grevious bodily harm.[14]

References

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  1. Chaplin, Mark (4 October 2006). "Moscow chosen for 2008 final". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  2. "A great opportunity for Manchester". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  3. Delany, Max (7 May 2008). "50,000 British Fans Coming to Town". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  4. "100,000 Rangers fans invade Manchester" Daily Mail (14 May 2008)
  5. Sarah Holt (14 May 2008). "Uefa Cup final as it happened". BBC Website. See 1738. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  6. Fordyce, Tom (13 May 2008). "Who are Zenit?". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  7. Ravdin, Eugene (14 May 2008). "Proud Arshavin spent by star turn". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  8. "BBC News Live". BBC News. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  9. Taylor, Paul (14 May 2008). "Pub Closed After Brawl". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  10. "Violence marrs Uefa showpiece". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  11. "The Uefa Cup Final day in video". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  12. "Violence mars Uefa final". Independent Television News. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  13. Bloxham, Andy (15 May 2008). "Man stabbed in Manchester following Glasgow Rangers' Uefa defeat". Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  14. "Uefa Cup fans clash with police". BBC Website. 15 May 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
Preceded by
UEFA Cup
Final 2007
UEFA Cup
Final 2008
Succeeded by
UEFA Cup
Final 2009