2008 UEFA Cup final
The 2008 UEFA Cup final was a football match that took place on 14 May 2008 at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. It was the 37th annual final of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second tier club football tournament.
Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2007–08 UEFA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 14 May 2008 | ||||||
| Venue | City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Andrey Arshavin (Zenit Saint Petersburg) | ||||||
| Referee | Peter Fröjdfeldt (Sweden) | ||||||
| Attendance | 43,878 | ||||||
| Weather | Sunny 16 °C (61 °F) 43% humidity | ||||||
The match, which was contested by Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia and Rangers of Scotland, was billed as a battle between former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat, then the manager of Zenit, and incumbent Rangers boss Walter Smith, both of whom had completed the Scottish domestic treble; Smith in 1993, Advocaat in 1999.
Zenit won the match 2–0 with goals from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov, to claim their first UEFA Cup title, making them only the second Russian side to win the competition, after CSKA Moscow in 2004–05. Zenit went on to play in the 2008 UEFA Super Cup and 2008 UEFA–CONMEBOL Challenge Cup, losing aggregate 3–1 to 2008 Copa Sudamericana winners Internacional in the second-leg matches, which they won after beating 2007–08 UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United 2–1 in the matches. The fixture is notable for having the largest travelling support in football history, with close to 200,000 Rangers fans travelling to Manchester for the occasion.