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.

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