Rangers 1 (Rae 54)
Zenit St. Petersburg 4 (Ho 19, Denisov 52, Kerzhakov 81, Spivak 90)
Attendance 30,019
It was without question an unfamiliar Rangers line-up
with Manager Paul Le Guen fielding just two of the
eleven that had played so well in defeating Hearts on
Saturday – Brahim Hemdani and Karl Svensson being the
only ones to retain their place – and Hemdani lined up
in central defence with Charlie Adam at left-back
against a visiting team that included two familiar
faces in their ranks – Coach Dick Advocaat, a
legendary former Ibrox Manager of course and on-loan
Rangers right-back Fernando Ricksen.
Rangers almost opened the scoring inside the first
minute when Filip Sebo, through on a Thomas Buffel
pass, saw his drive beaten out by goalkeeper Kamil
Contofalsky.
Three minutes later the Slovakian shot wide from a
Libor Sionko cutback.
The opening goal when it arrived however in nineteen
minutes came at the other end – Lee Ho heading home a
Radek Sirl corner, with Svensson yet again found
wanting.
Four minutes later Charlie Adam's twenty-yard drive
from a Sionko pass was held by Contofalsky.
Makhtar N'Diaye was making an impression in midfield –
and came close to an equaliser in 27 minutes when he
volleyed wide from a Sionko cross after the Czech
International had been released down the right by a
sweeping Gavin Rae pass.
The Russians were dangerous on the counter-attack –
Allan McGregor twice denying Andrey Arshavin, firstly
on the half-hour when his 25-yard drive was clawed
away, then three minutes later when the striker was
through on an Igor Denisov pass the goalkeeper blocked
his effort.
Nacho Novo came close to levelling matters in 41
minutes, his 25-yard drive being held by Contofalsky
at the second attempt.
A healthy attendance of 30,017 were in attendance –
but they were none too pleased seven minutes into the
second-half when Denisov broke through to rifle the
ball home.
Within two minutes Gavin Rae reduced the deficit from
a Nacho Novo pass.
A double substitution on the hour saw Antoine Ponroy
and Chris Burke replace Svensson and Buffel.
Burkey lasted just four minutes – limping off after
being the victim of a late tackle from Ricksen of all
people that saw the Dutchman roundly booed before
being replaced eight minutes later to a mixture of
applause and jeers.
St. Petersburg sealed their win in 81 minutes when
Alexander Kerzhakov netted from an Aleksander Anukov
cross.
Kerzhakov almost added a personal second in 89 minutes
when his twenty-yard drive was beaten out by McGregor,
but Oleksandr Spivak did indeed make it 4-1 in injury
time when he curled the ball home from the edge of the
box.
Afterwards Le Guen was remarkably upbeat:
“Tonight was a learning process. I was happy with our
movement. I hate to lose, but tonight was different.
Zenit Saint-Petersburg are a very good team – too
expensive for us…!”
On Burke, the blunt comment was “His ankle injury is a
worry – he may be out for a month.”
Meanwhile Dick Advocaat was ebullient in his summary:
“Paul Le Guen is a young man with lots of experience
who did a very good job in France – it shows the
calibre of Rangers that they can attract a Coach of
that standing. I had a wonderful time here – I had to
rebuild with only three players left from the previous
outstanding era. Rangers did not have their full team
tonight.”
On Fernando Ricksen, the ‘Little General' stated:
“I signed him because I needed a hard player. His
tackle on Burke was unintentional – the players have a
good relationship and Fernando is still a Rangers
player.”
Le Guen may have been correct to describe tonight as a
learning process, but he should be made aware that
30,000 Rangers fans did not turn up to see their side
lose 4-1.
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Svensson (Ponroy 60),
Hemdani, Adam; Sionko (Boyd 72), N'Diaye, Rae, Buffel
(Burke 60 [Martin 64]); Sebo, Novo (Stanger 81)
UNUSED SUBS Robinson, Smith
ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG Contofalsky; Ricksen (Anukov 72),
Krizanac (Skrtel 84), Hagen (Kim 45), Mares; Denisov,
Radimov (Spivak 45), Ho (Nagumanov 72), Sirl (Hyun
45); Arshavin (Alexsandr 45), Kerzhakov
UNUSED SUBS Malafeev, Gorshkov
REFEREE Iain Brines