2008 UEFA Cup Final - Route To The Final

Route To The Final

For more details on this topic, see 2007–08 UEFA Cup.

Zenit Saint Petersburg				Rangers
UEFA Cup			Round	Champions League
Opponent	Result	Legs	Qualifying phase	Opponent	Result	Legs
Zlaté Moravce	5–0	2–0 away; 3–0 home	Second qualifying round	Zeta	3–0	2–0 home; 1–0 away
Standard Liège	4–1	3–0 home; 1–1 away	Third qualifying round	Red Star Belgrade	1–0	1–0 home; 0–0 away
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Everton 4 4 0 0 9 3 +6 12 Nuremberg 4 2 1 1 7 6 +1 7 Zenit Saint Petersburg 4 1 2 1 6 6 0 5 AZ 4 1 1 2 5 6 −1 4 Larissa 4 0 0 4 4 10 −6 0			Group stage	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Barcelona 6 4 2 0 12 3 +9 14 Lyon 6 3 1 2 11 10 +1 10 Rangers 6 2 1 3 7 9 −2 7 Stuttgart 6 1 0 5 7 15 −8 3
UEFA Cup
Opponent	Result	Legs	Final phase	Opponent	Result	Legs
Villarreal	2–2 (a)	1–0 home; 1–2 away	Round of 32	Panathinaikos	1–1 (a)	0–0 home; 1–1 away
Marseille	3–3 (a)	1–3 away; 2–0 home	Round of 16	Werder Bremen	2–1	2–0 home; 0–1 away
Bayer Leverkusen	4–2	4–1 away; 0–1 home	Quarter-finals	Sporting CP	2–0	0–0 home; 2–0 away
Bayern Munich	5–1	1–1 away; 4–0 home	Semi-finals	Fiorentina	0–0 (4–2p)	0–0 home; 0–0 away (aet)

Throughout the season in Europe, Rangers had developed a reputation for being involved in tight games, principally due to their disciplined, defensive tactics which nullified opponents - only scoring 12 goals and also conceding 12 goals in their 18 matches in the two competitions. This approach intensified after dropping into the UEFA Cup, with none of their matches involving more than 2 goals; there were four 0-0 draws amongst the eight matches. This cautious tactical approach drew both criticism (for the largely unexciting and unattractive football which resulted from the tactics) and praise (for successfully limiting the opportunities created by their opponents, all of whom were considered to have more skilful, dangerous players than Rangers).

Zenit were considered by the clubs of Western Europe to be a more unpredictable opponent (although not an unknown quantity, as they had reached the quarterfinals of the 2005-06 UEFA Cup and had won the 2007 Russian Premier League). In contrast to their opponents in the final, they scored 28 and conceded 15 in their 16 UEFA Cup games, which included impressive wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich by large margins but also defeats by Everton, Villarreal and Marseille which had seen them close to elimination.