2008 UEFA Cup 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

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

Knockout stage

Zenit St. PetersburgRangers
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

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]

Match

Team news

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

Zenit St. Petersburg 2 - 0 Rangers
Denisov  72'
Zyryanov  90+4'
Report
Attendance: 43,878
Referee: Peter Fröjdfeldt (Sweden)
Zenit St. Petersburg
Rangers
ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG:
GK16 Vyacheslav Malafeev 90+2'
RB22 Aleksandr Anyukov
CB4 Ivica Križanac
CB15 Roman Shirokov
LB11 Radek Šírl
DM44 Anatoliy Tymoschuk (c)
RM18 Konstantin Zyryanov
LM27 Igor Denisov 72'
RW20 Viktor Fayzulin 90+3'
LW10 Andrei Arshavin
CF9 Fatih Tekke
Substitutes:
GK1 Kamil Čontofalský
DF5 Kim Dong-Jin 90+3'
MF2 Vladislav Radimov
MF25 Fernando Ricksen
MF57 Aleksei Ionov
MF88 Olexandr Gorshkov
FW7 Alejandro Domínguez
Manager:
Dick Advocaat
RANGERS:
GK13 Neil Alexander
RB21 Kirk Broadfoot 90+4'
CB3 David Weir
CB24 Carlos Cuéllar
LB5 Saša Papac 77'
DM7 Brahim Hemdani 80'
RM28 Steven Whittaker 86'
CM6 Barry Ferguson (c)
CM8 Kevin Thomson
LM35 Steven Davis
CF19 Jean-Claude Darcheville
Substitutes:
GK16 Graeme Smith
DF30 Christian Dailly
MF11 Charlie Adam
MF39 Amdy Faye
FW9 Kris Boyd 86'
FW10 Nacho Novo 77'
FW27 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

Zenit Rangers
Goals scored20
Total shots198
Shots on target83
Ball possession56%44%
Corner kicks92
Fouls committed1212
Offsides30
Yellow cards21
Red cards00

Fan violence

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

  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
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