Today the UEFA Cup will see the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg taking on the Glasgow Rangers in Manchester City, England.
The Rangers started their journey in the Champions League second leg qualifying round and ended up 10 months later in the UEFA Cup finals. The team has been struggling with scoring goals lately, but rediscovered their scoring touch with a 3-1 victory over Dundee United last weekend.
Good news is also the return of DaMarcus Beasley after being out for five and half months and Lee McCulloch’s miraculous recovery from ankle injury. Coach Walter Smith has at his disposal one of the strongest defenses in all the Cup’s competition. He said that winning the Cup would be the pinnacle of his long career.
Having to travel only 200 miles the Rangers can take advantage of the fact that playing in Manchester will give them a home like feel. One hundred thousand Ranger fans are expected to come to Manchester despite the fact only 15,000 fans are holding the tickets.
The City of Manchester Stadium will welcome the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg as a favorite. Beating European super club Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate shows that the Russian club has what it takes to be the next UEFA Cup champ.
The big question is how much they will miss their top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak. He won’t be playing in the finals because of his booking in the second leg of the semi-finals against Bayern.
Zenit’s coach Dick Advocaat said that Pobrebnyak’s absence is lost but they can find a worthy substitute for him. Advocaat will have at his disposal almost a full strength squad with Radek Sirl, Andrei Arshavin and Fernando Ricksen coming back from suspensions. Zenit was given a break from the Russian league to rest for this important match. The team went to the Netherlands to practice and make themselves ready for tomorrow.
Zenit will have to overcome the Rangers defense who allowed only two goals on the way to Wednesday’ finals.
The match will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel on May 14 at 2:30 pm EST.
andrei arshavin bayern munich damarcus beasley dick advocaat dundee united fernando ricksen fox soccer channel glasgow rangers lee mcculloch Manchester City netherlands pavel pogrebnyak radek sirl russian walter smith wednesday zenit st. petersburg