Zenit St Petersburg

We made it through an exciting first match day of the group stages of this years Champions League and based on the matchups, day two could be even better.

Here are my quick predictions:

Group E

Celtic vs. AaB — The Scottish side should have a significant advantage in this game.  If they have any hopes of advancing they need to make a big statement here.

Prediction: 2-0

Manchester United vs. Villarreal — This is sure to be the best game of the first two days.  Both teams have serious championship aspirations and this game will tell us a lot about these teams. Can Manchester lose a second game in a row?

Prediction: 1-1

Group F

Lyon vs. Fiorentina — This is a great matchup between under-appreciated teams.  The French champions will have a slight edge.

Prediction: 2-1

Steaua Bucuresti vs. Bayern Munich — Munich has a chance to walk through this game but they have not looked great this season and need a real boost.  Beating up on another team is always fun.

Prediction: 0-2

Group G

Dynamo Kiev vs. Arsenal — This is going to be a tough test for a young Arsenal team. Playing this far away from home is not going to be easy.

Prediction: 2-2

FC Porto vs. Fenerbahce — This is the Turkish side's chance to prove that last years late run was no fluke.

Prediction: 1-3

Group F

Juventus vs. Zenit — Juventus should be able to take advantage of a Zenit side who has not looked good as of late.

Prediction: 2-1

Real Madrid vs. BATE Borisov — Real is a team on the edge.  They have the talent to go far in this tournament but they also have not been playing well.  I expect an inspired showing tomorrow.

Prediction: 3-1

Enjoy the matches and I will be back with more predictions in a couple of weeks.

Action

Manchester United were disappointing as they failed to add to their European silverware at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

Russians Zenit St. Petersburg were the better side and won the game through goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and new signing Danny.

They took the lead just before the interval when Pogrebnyak headed home from close range. They doubled that lead on 59 minutes through a fantastic individual effort from Danny. The Brazilian drove the ball straight through the United defence before slotting coolly past Van Der Sar.

It took two goals in order for Manchester United to respond, but after going two goals down they responded well, and halved Zenit's lead on 73 minutes, when Nemanja Vidic fired the ball through a crowded six-yard area.

United then surged forward time and time again in pursuit of that equalising goal, but it was not to be as Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev denied United's attack time and time again with a series of good saves.

The Red Devils (well probably just Paul Scholes) were so desperate for an equaliser that they tried the old Maradona trick, when on 90 minutes Paul Scholes guided the ball past Malafeev and into the back of the net, with his hand.

He was inevitably given a yellow card for the offence, and was sent off as he had received another yellow card earlier in the game.

And after going down to 10-men, there was no way for United to find that last minute equaliser, as Zenit held on for a famous victory.

Reaction

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson picked out Carlos Tevez as a highlight of the game, saying: "I thought Tevez was the outstanding player on the pitch, I thought he was fantastic, our best player."

The Argentine was at the heart of the Red Devils best chances, and made the assist for Nemanja Vidic's goal.

Ferguson went on to add: "I thought we had the best chances throughout the match."

"There was one in the first half for Wayne Rooney, and some in the second half when we were 2-0 down. That was when we played probably our best football.

"I think it was an open game, I think both teams did very well. The players have put a good effort in on a warm night and there were a lot of tired players at the end of it."

Zenit St. Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat was especially pleased with the way his side performed, as it was a performance that seemed to fill the Dutchman with immense pride.

"The way we played tonight was superb and we definitely deserved the victory,"

"In fact I am surprised we did not score more goals. We deserved to win by a bigger margin."

Andrei Arshavin was another star performer for Zenit against the Red Devils, and Advocaat believes the forward is staying at Zenit this year.

"The door is closed, the deal is closed.

"Tottenham did not offer the £22million we wanted for him and what we think he is worth. They offered £16million and, with respect, that is not enough so that’s the end of it."

Quotes from www.manutd.com and www.goal.com

Monaco is the place to be tonight as Manchester United and Zenit St. Petersburg go head-to-head in the 'Battle of Europe'.

The current English Premier League and UEFA Champions League champions take on the current Russian Premier League and UEFA Cup champions at the Stade Louis II.

Both teams will look to add to their European silverware after fantastic campaigns in Europe last season. Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties to win the Champions League, while Zenit St. Petersburg won 2-0 against Rangers to lift the UEFA Cup at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Manchester United will look to win the Super Cup after losing to Lazio following their fantastic 1999 treble season, while Zenit St. Petersburg will look to win the cup for the first time in their history.

Team News

Manchester United

Owen Hargreaves and Nani have returned to the side and are in the 19-man squad after being suspended domestically, while Gary Neville is set to start and captain the Red Devils.

Other players in contention for a starting berth are the exciting Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio Da Silva, as well as their compatriot Rodrigo Possebon.

Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, and Ben Foster are not in the squad, while Louis Saha is having a medical at Everton and therefore won't take part.

Zenit St. Petersburg

Zenit starlet Andrei Arshavin is in the squad despite a prolonged transfer saga, while Pavel Pogrebnyiak is back after missing the UEFA Cup final and Euro 2008 through injury. Along with Arshavin, he will no doubt be a big threat for the United defence, and certainly has the chance to add to his reputation tonight.

Zenit's new 30m euro signing Danny is eligible to play and is in the squad, but Belgian defender Nicolas Lombaerts is sidelined with a knee-injury.

It's time to get out the vodka. The special stuff—that bottle you've been saving for a special occasion.

Thanks to the genius of the maestro, Guus Hiddink, and a talented supporting cast of Russia's finest players, Russia have made it through to the semi finals of the European Championship.

This means that Russia will be playing either Spain or Italy, depending on the outcome of tonight's match. The  prospect of facing either of these teams is a sobering thought, so perhaps we'd better have another shot of vodka.

Italy, of course, are the current World Champions, but it could be argued they are very lucky to hold that title. Their quarter final berth in the World Cup was courtesy of a highly controversial last-minute penalty awarded against Australia.

Their subsequent matches against Ukraine and Germany were both good efforts, but the final against France was simply awful. The tied game was eventually decided by a penalty shoot-out. 

Even the decider was a bit of a sticky situation, since France had to make do without their star player, Zinedine Zidane who was red-carded in the dying moments of the match.

Their form in Euro 2008 has not been strong, but it has been enough to get them into the match with Spain.

Spain was the best performer during the group stage at the World Cup. They won all of their matches, emerging with nine points and a positive GD of seven.

Those efforts were undone with a shock upset to France, who beat them 3-1.

Like Holland, Spain has once again emerged through the Group Stage unscathed. This guarantees nothing, as Turkey showed Holland last night.

What this all spells out is that neither Italy nor Spain is invincible. Both have their weaknesses, and neither team has the genius of Guus Hiddink guiding them.

Should the Russians defy the odds and beat one of these two football giants, they will then face off against either Turkey (please, God!) or Germany.

Nothing needs to be said about what a delicious situation it would be for a Final between Turkey and Russia. It's the sort of thing we dream of—a true "once in a lifetime" experience.

A match against Germany will also be interesting, however. Most will dismiss Russia as being a vastly inferior team. This would be an unfair judgment, because not only have Germany been playing below their best, but there is some recent history that indicates the outcome is far from a certainty.

The last time Marcell Jansen, Bastien Schweinsteiger, Philip Lahm, Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose faced off against Andrei Asrhavin, Roman Pavluchenko, Roman Shirokov, Konstantin Zurianov and Aleksandr Aniukov, they were defeated. 

Not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill defeat either. It was a whopping 4-0 in normal time.

Of course, in that situation they were representing Bayern Munich (the best team in Germany, hands down) and Zenit St Petersburg, but that really doesn't matter too much. 

The bare fact is that Bayern Munich have not managed to win against Zenit St Petersburg this year.

Russia have a fight on their hands, of course. But they are a far more serious threat than many people will imagine.

May 30, 1981 (Leningrad/Saint Petersburg): The Arshavin family celebrates the joyous birth of their son Andrei.

June 21, 2008 (Basel): 27-year-old Andrei establishes himself as a superstar by destroying the Dutch defence and sending a nation of 142 million people into raptures.

If you watched the Euro 2008 match between the Netherlands and Russia, then you would have definitely been impressed by a certain little maestro's guile, pace and vision.

His extra-time dinked crossed pass which eluded Edwin Van der Sar, finding the tiny feet of Dmitry Torbinsky and then the net, was the stuff of magic. He then followed it up with a goal himself to put the icing on the cake.

The diminutive number 10 is no longer a Russian secret and has fully exploded onto the international scene with an unstoppable verve.

After giving the aging Swedish defence nightmares in the final Group D match, ultimately sending his nation into the quarter-finals, Andrei Arshavin became the architect of the demise of a ridiculously talented Dutch team.

In two matches he has tormented some of the most established international players with trickery, play making, and off-the-ball runs that would have made Pele and Maradona proud. The disappointment at not witnessing him in the first two Group D matches, due to suspension, should be extremely high.

With countless assists and 13 goals in 36 matches for his country, as well as 47 in 217 matches for his club Zenit St. Petersburg, he can be assured of having some of the most prominent suitors in European football chasing his signature this summer.

Equally adept as a winger and in the hole behind the striker, it is no wonder he is capable of such sumptuous displays like playing a major part in the 4-0 demolition of Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup semi-final.

The question then is: Who is going to break the bank and how much are they going have to part for his services?

One thing is for sure: It's definitely going to be eight figures, and big eight figures at that, for a player at his physical peak and on around £50,000-a-week. During Zenit's UEFA Cup run, whispers began to accumulate about a move to the English Premiership, with Manchester City, Newcastle and Everton interested. 

Everton manager, David Moyes, apparently even contemplated a £12 million move after selling James McFadden and being impressed by Arshavin's mesmerizing performance against his team in the UEFA Cup group stages.

So, £12 million before the Bayern match, before the UEFA Cup win and before Euro 2008. The Rosgosstrakh Championship (Russian Premier League) Player of the Year is surely guaranteed a fee in excess of £20 million. To bid any less would certainly be a slur on his amazing skill and ever-enhancing reputation.

He has truly conquered the hearts of the Russian people and that of this reporter who is now truly hooked on "Euro Two Thousand and Great". We should bow to this little Russian who goes about his business with fantastic flair and a boyish vigour.

Just don't expect him to sign for Newcastle after Euro 2008. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger should take heed and bid, for he is overall better than the Judases Cristiano Ronaldo and Aliaksandr Hleb.

Andrei Sergeyevich Arshavin would grace any big team in any major league with his extraordinary skill and amazing work ethic.

• Brazilian defender Edmilson has left Barcelona and joined Villarreal on a free transfer; the player turned down advances from Newcastle to say in Spain.

• Wolverhampton Wanderers have signed Bournemouth’s teenage striker Sam Vokes for an undisclosed fee.

• Leeds United have signed Wales international Andy Robinson from Swansea City on a free transfer. The Swans have signed Stockport County defender Ashley Williams for a club record fee of 400,000 pounds.

• Celtic’s Japanese winger Shunsuke Nakamara has denied he is about to leave Parkhead for the J league to sign for Yokohama Marinos. (Kyoda News)

• World cup-winning fullback Gianluca Zambrotta could to set to finalise his switch from Barcelona to AC Milan, if the Catalan’s valuation of 7 million euro is met by the San Siro club. (tribalfootball.com)

• Real Madrid and Barcelona are interested in signing Deportivo La Coruna’s Argentinian defender Fabricio Coloccini. The former AC Milan player had a move to River Plate fall through last summer. (Marca)

• Middlesbrough, Bolton Wanderers, and Aston Villa are all fighting it out for Tottenham’s English goalkeeper Paul Robinson in a 5 million pound deal. (Daily Star)

• Fulham have signed Middlesbrough keeper Mark Schwarzer on a free transfer. The Australian international turned down moves from European giants Bayern Munich and Juventus. (Sky Sports News)

• Everton are the latest club to be interested in Birmingham City keeper Maik Taylor. The toffees want the former Farnborough man to be a reliable backup to first choice, Tim Howard. (The Times)

• Chelsea will beat Manchester City to the signature of Barcelona’s Mexico International whiz kid Giovanni Dos Santos, by offering Florent Malouda in exchange. (Daily telegraph)

• Manchester City will use the sale of Ireland internationals Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland to fund a move for Zenit St. Petersburg captain Andrei Arshavin. Roy Keane’s Sunderland are interested in the pair as well as Newcastle. (Daily Mirror)

• Chelsea are prepared to sell Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba after the forwards petulant display in the Champions League Final. (Daily mail)

• Cardiff City are set to release veteran strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank and Robbie Fowler in the summer. (Daily Telegraph)

• Manchester City are also on the verge of signing CSKA Moscow’s Brazilian striker Jo, despite reported interest from Everton. (Daily Mail)

• Liverpool have upped their bid for Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry by 2 million to 12 million pounds. (The Sun)

• Tottenham have reportively made a 2.5 million pound bid for Lyon’s France keeper Gregory Coupet. (The Sun)

• Derby County have signed Nottingham Forrest winger Kris Commons on a free transfer from the City Ground.

• It’s reported that Real Madrid will use Robinho as a make-weight in a 64 million pound move for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo. (Daily Mail)

• Mark Hudson is set to leave Crystal Palace and sign for former boss Iain Dowie at QPR, after the former Fulham player turned down a new contract. (Sky Sports News)

• Newly Promoted Premier league side Stoke City are interested in Senegalese midfielder Guirane N'Daw. The player currently plays for Sochaux in France. (Sky Sports News)

• Falkirk striker Pedro Moutinho is set to move back to his homeland and sign for Maritimo. (Sky Sports News)

• West Ham’s bid to take Juventus striker Davide Lanzafame on a season loan, looks in doubt after Palermo asked for fifty percent of his rights in the deal to take Amauri to the Stadio Delle Alpi. (Sky Sports News)

• Inverness striker Dennis Wyness has signed for St Mirren on a two year contract. (Sky Sports News)
  

• Portsmouth are interested in Rennes’ Ghanaian defender John Mensah and Tottenham’s France U-21 defender Younes Kaboul. Rennes are already looking at bringing in Dynamo Kiev’s Pape Diakhate as a replacement. (Sky Sports News)

• Manchester United want to sign French youngsters Jeremy Helen and Daniel Situ. Both players are France U-16 Internationals, and are currently contracted to Rennes and Lens respectivately, although are looking at loop holes in their pre-contracts with the French clubs. (L’Equipe)

• Napoli’s Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik has no intention of moving to Liverpool this summer. Despite reported interest from the reds. (Daily Mail)

• Manchester City are reportively lining up big money moves for Espanyol’s Argentine midfielder Pablo Zabaleta for around fifthteen million and Zenit St Petersburg’s Russian International Andrei Arshavin for around twelve million. (Club Call and the Sun)

• Barcelona are going to attempt to swap Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o for Inter Milan’s Romanian captain Christian Chivu, to bulk up there defence. (Football Italia)

• Everton are after CSKA Moscow’s Brazilian defender Dudu, who spent last season on loan at Valencia. The full back would be available for around eight million. (Club Call)

• Another player that has no interest in moving to Liverpool is Wigan’s Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia, who wants to stay at the JJB. (Various)

• But Rafael Benitez is on the lookout for back up for Pepe Reina, with Scott Carson set to sign permantley for Aston Villa and Charles Itandje set to leave.  Possible targets are Newcastle’s Steve Harper, Birmingham’s Northern Ireland international Maik Taylor and Bordeaux’s Ulrich Rame. (Daily Mail)

• Swansea City are set to sign Southend United captain Mark Gower. (Vitalfootball.com)

• Northern Ireland striker Warren Feeney is set to leave Cardiff City for league one side Millwall. (Various)

• Rangers are taking a look at Hearts full back Lee Wallace, with a view to signing him in the summer. (The Sun)

• Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is looking at Seville striker Luis Fabiano and Real Zaragoza’s Diego Milito after failing in a bid to sign Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o. (Daily Mirror)

• Roy Hodgson is keen on bringing back Liverpool full back Steve Finnan to Fulham. The former Ireland international is believed to be available for two million this summer. (Daily Mirror)

• Bolton and Middlesbrough are tracking Sporting Lisbon striker Simon Vukcevic. (Daily Mail)

• Ajax striker Jan Klaus Huntelaar has left the door open for a possible transfer away for Amsterdam in the summer. The Dutch international said “I am playing in the Dutch squad and the rest is not in my hands.”

• Alan Curbishly is prepared to sell star striker Dean Ashton and defender Anton Ferdinand, to bank roll moves for Newcastle defender Steven Taylor, and Everton striker Andrew Johnson. (Daily Mirror)

• Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will take over the red devil’s reserve team next season. (Daily Mirror)

• Former Wycombe manager Paul Lambert is in line for the Leicester job or the Motherwell job if Mark McGhee leaves for Hearts. (Various)

• Real Madrid have joined inter Milan in the race to sign Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb. (Sky Sports News)

• Liverpool are close to signing Udinese left back Andrea Dossena for eight million, although both Juventus and Tottenham are waiting in the wings, to sign the Italy cap. (Gazette delle Sport)

• Ajax and Liverpool are both interested in signing highly rated French youngster Sofiane Feghouli from recently promoted Grenoble. (Sky Sports News)

• Southampton will make a move for Sam Allardyce to be there new boss if Leon Crouch and Rupert Lowe resume power at St Mary’s. (Daily Mirror)

• Former Newcastle coach John Carver, now manager of Toronto, wants to bring former charge Shola Ameobi to Canada. (Daily Mirror)

• Manchester City will try and sign Real Betis’ Portuguese International goalkeeper Ricardo if Luiz Fellipe Scolari takes over at Eastlands. (Daily Mirror)

• Portsmouth are in the running to sign Paris St Germain’s highly rated French teenage striker Gael N’Lundulu. (Daily Mirror)

• Everton and Manchester City will battle it out to sign CSKA Moscow striker Jo

this summer. (Sky Sports News)

The last couple of days have been very exciting for Russian sports fans, a country that—in recent memory—has been quiet  when it comes to big feats on the world stage.

This all changed on Wednesday night when FC Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Rangers FC of Scotland in the UEFA Cup with the score of 2-0.

The club came to Manchester for the final after disposing of heavily favored Bayern Munich with an aggregate of 5-1. The team found themselves destined for their first-ever trip to a major European final.

Meanwhile, their Scottish opposition had the pleasure of disposing of Italian side Fiorintina, winning 4-2 on penalties after failing to score in regular time in both home and way legs.   

As fans flocked to Manchester, much of the favoritism went in the way of Rangers simply because little was known of Zenit. However, those familiar with the Russian Primer League knew that beating the club would be difficult, as they had come off their first league title this past season.

The first half at the City of Manchester Stadium saw a relentless Zenit attack as they fired away on what looked to be a helpless and unprepared Rangers defense. The two teams went into the interval scoreless and it was evident that the traveling fans of Rangers grew irritated early on.

The second half was much like the first except this time Rangers began to penetrate the Russian side, testing keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev repeatedly. However any sign of life shown by Gers was abruptly ended by Igor Denisov who received a perfect pass from Andrei Arshavin to slip the ball past keeper Neil Alexander to give the Russians the lead.

Rangers did all they could to push level but failed to do so as Zenit added the dagger through the heart with an injury-time goal by Konstantin Zyrianov to ensure themselves their first European trophy.

With the win, they became the second Russian team to ever win the UEFA cup, the first being CSKA Moscow in 2004/05. The match was overshadowed by fan violence outside the stadium as both groups of fans clashed with one another resulting in dozens of arrests and even a stabbing. Back in St. Petersburg, fans stormed the city through the night as newly crowned UEFA Cup Champions.

While the final was being staged in England, the Russian national team was participating in the IIHF Mens World Championship in Nova Scotia and Quebec City, Canada.

The team—led by the Washington Capitals trio of Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Ovechkin—went undefeated in the group stages, defeating the high-powered Czech Republic and Sweden along the way.

They disposed of Switzerland in the quarterfinal with a resounding 6-0 win and then continued their defensive mastery with a 4-0 win over Finland. Led by Evgeni Nabokov's stellar goaltending, those wins allowed Russia to advance to the final vs host country Canada on Sunday afternoon.

The two teams had not met in the final since 1958 and Russia had to bring their A-game to help prevent the Canadians from winning their second straight gold medal. The Canadians too went undefeated and beat both Norway and Sweden in the playoffs for the right to defend their medal.

The first period saw Russia get the early lead with a goal by Alexander Semin just under two minutes. Defensemen Brent Burns tied the score at 1-1 and Chris Kunitz added one more to give Canada the lead. Burns then added his second goal of the game on a 5 on 3 powerplay giving Canada a two goal advantage going into the first intermission.

The start of the second period was exactly like the first, with Semin adding his second goal of the game to bring the Russians within one. Leading scorer Dany Heatley added to the lead by scoring his 12th goal of the tournament, passing Eric Lindros's mark for most goals in one World Championship for Canada.

The Russians entered the third period down two goals and came close to beating goalie Cam Ward who, at times, looked unstoppable. Alexei Tereschenko finally rewarded them with a goal with under 10 minutes to go.

The impossible happened when Ilya Kovalchuk scored his first goal of the tournament after returning to the lineup after a one-game suspension tying the affair at 4-4. As the game headed off to overtime, the momentum was clearly in favor of the Russians who managed to erase a two-goal lead against a very sound defense.

The overtime saw Rick Nash get a penalty for delay of game and put Russia on the powerplay. With the man advantage, Kovalchuk ripped a shot past Ward sending the Russian bench and fans into euphoria.

The comeback was complete and it gave Russia their first gold medal since 1993. Just like the fans in St. Petersburg days earlier, all of Moscow celebrated through the night as the World Champions.

The focus on the country is not yet over, as Moscow will play host to the Champions League Final on Wednesday with an all English final between Chelsea FC and Manchester United. This will be the first time Moscow has held a Champions League Final already holding a UEFA Cup Final in 1998/99.The match will also be the first time an all English final has occurred in the competitions 53 year history.

All 69,000 + seats are expected to be sold out as Europe's biggest match comes to one of Europe's most historic city's.

 

*I am in no way insinuating that any member or employee of Zenit St. Petersburg Football Club is racist, or racially inclined. I am referring to the openly racist fans, as described by Dick Advocaat in his interview.

Let us be clear from the start:

I am not a Rangers fan.

I have little interest in the SPL (Scottish Premier League)

And I am incensed.

Not because Rangers lost, but because the most racially slanted football club in Europe (that I know of) was firstly allowed to compete in UEFA's second largest tournament, and then went on to win the event.

And their racist fans were singing all the way, the men taking their shirts off to proudly display that they too, were white.

Their celebrating was of little doing by Zenit themselves, moreover Rangers not showing up to play, unable to hold on to the ball, sitting deep and absorbing what Zenit threw at them.

The first half proved to be an entirely one sided affair with Zenit taking all the possession, but doing little to nothing with it.

Both Rangers and Zenit were lucky not to give away penalties, both for handballs, Rangers nearly called in the first half, Zenit in the second.

The second half was more balanced, with Rangers having more possession and chances, but, alas, the goal that broke Scottish hearts came on 73 minutes, with a clever through ball splitting the Rangers' defence.

Rangers' response was non-forthcoming, changing formations to go 4-3-3, which ended up looking more like big-clump-small-clump chasing the ball around.

With virtually no defensive players left on the field, Zenit scored their second in the 93rd minute to finally crush Rangers' attempts at a comeback, sending their already delirious fans to a place of mad joy:

Their prized all white team had won UEFA's second biggest prize.

So why am I so incensed? Because it's not due to a Rangers' loss. It's that UEFA has just lain down and forgotten all it's been preaching about racism in football.

I'm sure most people have seen over the past few years, UEFA's campaign of "Kick Racism Out of Football," but I can't but help feel, UEFA just undid all their hard work by allowing Zenit to compete.

Anyone who can be bothered to look, and even those who aren't are well aware that coach Advocaat will not sign any non-white players because the fans do not tolerate them. And UEFA is allowing these fans' team to compete why?

Because now, you have every Zenit St. Petersburg fan running around, convinced that they're all white bigoted strategy is the right one, where in the world today, it is not, nor should it be tolerated as such.

Congratulations to UEFA on failing the ethnically diverse, and good people in general, and commiserations to Rangers.

Better luck next year.

Both of you.

"Follow Follow, We Will Follow Rangers" was the chorus that filled the squares of Florence long into the night as Rangers fans celebrated their very special achievement.

Just 15 months ago, Glasgow Rangers Football Club was on its knees.

Today, we celebrate our first return to a European Final in 36 long years. Some fans thought they'd never see another such day, others like myself, thought we could only dream.

But on the 14th of May, 2008, the players of Glasgow Rangers will have a chance on that pitch in Manchester, to make themselves heroes!

Heroes in Glasgow, live forever!

Last nights game wasn't pretty, in fact I'd have been the first to hold my hands up if the Gers had lost on penalties and say "justice had been done."

Sadly or should I say luckily, there is no justice in football!

Fiorentina failed to score in 210 minutes of football, which in the history books make them no better than the boys in blue.

Rangers kept their composure in the shoot out despite captain Barry Ferguson's early miss. Steven Whittaker, Sasa Papac, Bruno Hemdani all scored as Fabio Liverani had his penalty saved by Neil Alexander. Christian Vieri blasted over and Nacho Novo stepped up to send the Rangers fans into delirium!

Rangers were through to the UEFA Cup Final!

The Scots will meet the impressive Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester after the Russians demolished the once mighty Bayern Munich 4-0 to advance to the final, 5-1 on aggregate.

Strangely enough, Zenit Coach Dick Advocaat is a former Rangers manager and has at his disposal, former Rangers favourite Fernando Ricksen. This will add spice to a final that will see upwards of 100,000 Rangers fans converge on Manchester.

Zenit must be the favourites but what does that mean? No one wearing Blue in Manchester, including the Rangers players will give it a second thought.

Red Star Belgrade, VFB Stuttgart, Olympic Lyonnais, Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and finally Fiorentina have all been dispatched by Rangers in Europe this season.

As I said earlier in the tournament, we are the famous Glasgow Rangers, and we surely fear nothing now!

In the words of 100,000 Rangers fans in Manchester... Mon then Zenit!