The last couple of days have been very exciting for Russian sports fans, a country that—in recent memory—has been quiet when it comes to big feats on the world stage.
This all changed on Wednesday night when FC Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Rangers FC of Scotland in the UEFA Cup with the score of 2-0.
The club came to Manchester for the final after disposing of heavily favored Bayern Munich with an aggregate of 5-1. The team found themselves destined for their first-ever trip to a major European final.
Meanwhile, their Scottish opposition had the pleasure of disposing of Italian side Fiorintina, winning 4-2 on penalties after failing to score in regular time in both home and way legs.
As fans flocked to Manchester, much of the favoritism went in the way of Rangers simply because little was known of Zenit. However, those familiar with the Russian Primer League knew that beating the club would be difficult, as they had come off their first league title this past season.
The first half at the City of Manchester Stadium saw a relentless Zenit attack as they fired away on what looked to be a helpless and unprepared Rangers defense. The two teams went into the interval scoreless and it was evident that the traveling fans of Rangers grew irritated early on.
The second half was much like the first except this time Rangers began to penetrate the Russian side, testing keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev repeatedly. However any sign of life shown by Gers was abruptly ended by Igor Denisov who received a perfect pass from Andrei Arshavin to slip the ball past keeper Neil Alexander to give the Russians the lead.
Rangers did all they could to push level but failed to do so as Zenit added the dagger through the heart with an injury-time goal by Konstantin Zyrianov to ensure themselves their first European trophy.
With the win, they became the second Russian team to ever win the UEFA cup, the first being CSKA Moscow in 2004/05. The match was overshadowed by fan violence outside the stadium as both groups of fans clashed with one another resulting in dozens of arrests and even a stabbing. Back in St. Petersburg, fans stormed the city through the night as newly crowned UEFA Cup Champions.
While the final was being staged in England, the Russian national team was participating in the IIHF Mens World Championship in Nova Scotia and Quebec City, Canada.
The team—led by the Washington Capitals trio of Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Ovechkin—went undefeated in the group stages, defeating the high-powered Czech Republic and Sweden along the way.
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