Unexpected Winners: Zenit Saint Petersburg 2008 UEFA Cup
Before it’s name was changed to the UEFA Europa League in 2009, the UEFA Cup had a different format and a number of different winners. But one of it’s biggest shocks came in its penultimate edition in 2007/08 when only the second Russian team in history lifted the trophy.
In fact, both the teams that made the final were huge underdogs when the competition started but Zenit Saint Petersburg were the side that came out on top.
They started the competition in the second qualifying round against the Slovakian side Zlate Moravce and blew them away, winning the home leg 3-0, and the away leg 2-0. Then in the third and final qualifying round they faced Standard Liege and after winning the home leg 3-0 again, they scrapped their way to a 1-1 draw in Belgium to make the group stage.
At this point the group stage was different to it’s current format and consisted of five teams who would all play each other once with the top three all qualifying from the group. Zenit would sneak into the third place beating out AZ Aalkmar by one point. They only lost one match in the group stage which was to Everton who had topped the table with four wins from four.
Their third place finish matched them up with Villareal in the round of 32, being drawn at home first. They would leave Russia with a 1-0 lead from that game hoping to advance and although they would lose 2-1 in the return leg in Spain, the Zeniters would move on due to that all important away goal.
That victory would set up a round of 16 tie with an impressive Marseille team and it looked as if they would struggle following the away leg, losing 3-1 in France. However, once again the away goal would prove decisive with the Russian side managing to flip the tie on its head, by winning their home leg in Saint Petersburg 2-0.
Their quarter-final draw would pit them against Bayer Leverkusen with the away leg to be played in Germany first. Many expected this to be the round where Zenit finally bowed out but Dick Advocaat’s side had other plans and essentially finished the tie in the first leg thumping Leverkusen 4-1 in their own stadium. They would lose the second leg at home 1-0 but it was already an insurmountable task for the German side who were the next side to be shocked by Zenit.
Advocaat’s side would be rewarded for that win with a semi-final tie against Bayern Munich. Once again though, it was another case of the Zeniters not reading the script and after drawing 1-1 at the Allianz Arena, they would once again put another German side to the sword, this time in the home leg. Bayern were humiliated 4-0 in the old Russian capital which booked a place in the final for Zenit.
They would travel to Manchester, to play at the City of Manchester Stadium and face another huge underdog throughout the tournament, Rangers. The Scottish giants had also swept aside better teams on their way to the final, beating Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina on their way to the final.
The match was also billed as a huge matchup between the managers with Advocaat having completed a domestic treble with the Gers in 1999 and the late great Walter Smith had done the same in 1993.
Smith’s side had the likes of Carlos Cuellar, Steven Davis, Charlie Adam and Nacho Novo to call on but the match was in a deadlock after 70 minutes.
Zenit’s captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk had been unable to completely influence the game but another man had, and his man of the match performance would help the Russian side to win the game. That man was Andrey Arshavin and his neat one-two allowed Igor Denisov to open the scores with just 18 minutes of normal time left.
The game was then put to bed in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Konstantin Zyranov side footed in Zenit’s second to clinch the club’s first UEFA Cup.
It was a remarkable run from both teams but ultimately Advocaat’s side would come out on top and lift the trophy.