Zenit raise bar too high for proud Rangers

SOCCER/Zenit 2 Rangers 0:RANGERS CAME in search of a great prize but took only great pride from the City of Manchester Stadium. Zenit St Petersburg deserved to win the Uefa Cup and will value it all the more as they remember how hard they had to fight and how long they were made to wait.

The key goal, from Igor Denisov, was delayed until the 72nd minute and a tap-in for the second from Konstantin Zyrianov in stoppage time had no relevance.

Though Zenit are much more accomplished than Rangers, they were never permitted to rise above the struggle and each side had a reasonable penalty appeal spurned. It is the measure of how much the Scottish club have made of themselves that they will be dejected even though they are well-placed to win a domestic treble.

The balance of power in the stadium was always sure to lie with Rangers, but that concerned nothing more than the composition of the crowd. Glasgow are estimated to have had well over 100,000 fans in Manchester. It sounded as if not far off 30,000 had sourced match tickets. Ingenuity was not quite so apparent in the team before half-time.

The fixture, nonetheless, would have had a comforting familiarity for Walter Smith's team. Their campaign has been defined by patient endurance. Rangers are also capable of snapping out of that conservatism to catch the opposition unawares. As early as the seventh minute, they had broken sharply through Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson before Radek Sirl dealt anxiously with Jean-Claude Darcheville's cross.

Prior to that, Zenit had been given some false encouragement. Rangers were uncharacteristically slipshod before Zyrianov fed Andrei Arshavin to fire against the side-netting.

There was just a single piece of recklessness from Rangers prior to the interval, but it ought to have led to a penalty. In the 45th minute the referee, Peter Frojdfeldt, failed to see that Kirk Broadwood had moved his arm to block Arshavin's cross.

Whatever risks Rangers may have run against opponents of greater technique, they were not in danger of being impetuous. One of the wide midfield positions went neither to Nacho Novo nor Lee McCulloch, but to Steven Whittaker, who is a full-back by trade. Walter Smith would not have given a moment's thought to laying on any sort of free-spirited spectacle. Smith's obligation was not to purists or neutrals.

The Rangers fans had unfurled a banner for the squad to read as it conducted a pre-match warm-up. The message read: "This is your chance. This is your time. Become legends."

It is hard, admittedly, to win a final without a dash of boldness at some point. There was a suspicion, too, that Rangers could not expect to contain Zenit throughout the whole night.

Under the former Ibrox manager Dick Advocaat they, too, have earned a reputation for counter-attacking, but the rewards were spectacular in high-scoring wins over Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. Rangers were not to be breached so readily.

Advocaat must have known enough about the nature of his opponents' path to the final to be concerned about the stalemate. Rangers did indeed look as they would be progressively more effective as time wore on.

Following the interval, they enjoyed more possession and had ideas about what might be done with it. This change of stance unsettled Zenit.

With 54 minutes gone Darcheville was sent into the area for a shot that was beaten away by Vyacheslav Malafeev and in the ensuing melee the goalkeeper seemed to trip the Rangers captain, Ferguson. Frojdfeldt was indifferent to pleas, leaving the clubs tied on rejected appeals.

A prime chance to break the deadlock in open play did arrive in the 64th minute. Rangers left themselves short-staffed in defence as they took a corner and Zenit's long pass sent Arshavin free on the left.

The forward then went past the goalkeeper, Neil Alexander, before taking slightly too long to size up the angles. Sasa Papac had time to get back and head the finish off the goalline.

Rangers had experienced a stab of fear then, but they had turned the final into an even contest and it was a slight surprise when Zenit did take the lead in the 72nd minute. The smoothness of it did, all the same, reflect that talent in Zenit's team.

Denisov was decisive in controlling a loose ball before picking out Arshavin and continuing his own run to take the return pass and slip a shot past Alexander.

Before long, Zyrianov clipped the post as the Rangers defence all but collapsed.

Zenit had presented Smith's side with a challenge of a radically different order from those previously overcome.

ZENIT ST PETERSBURG: Malafeev, Aniukov, Krizanac, Shirokov, Sirl, Tymoschuk, Zyryanov, Denisov, Faitzulin (Kim 90), Tekke, Arshavin. Subs not used: Contofalsky, Radimov, Dominguez, Ricksen, Ionov, Gorshkov. Booked: Malafeev.

RANGERS: Alexander, Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac (Novo 77), Hemdani (McCulloch 80), Whittaker (Boyd 86), Ferguson, Thomson, Davis, Darcheville. Subs not used: Graeme Smith, Adam, Dailly, Faye.

Referee: P Frojdfeldt (Sweden).