Zenit to face Rangers in final

Zenit St Petersburg will take on Rangers in the UEFA Cup final on May 14.

Zenit crushed favourites Bayern 4-0 yesterday for a 5-1 aggregate victory in their semi-final, while Rangers beat Fiorentina 4-2 on penalties to book their place in the final at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Christian Vieri blasted over a crucial penalty in Florence last night following a 0-0 draw. Fiorentina dominated the game, as they had done in the goalless draw in the first leg in Glasgow, but their final ball continually let them down.

Rangers could have pinched it towards the end of normal time with Steven Davis and Steven Whittaker forcing keeper Sebastien Frey into smart saves.

Striker Daniel Cousin was sent off in extra-time for a second booking after clashing with Fabio Liverani.

Spanish midfielder Nacho Novo scored the all-important penalty to seal Rangers' dramatic win after Whittaker, Sasa Papac and Brahim Hemdani had also netted from the 11-metre mark. Captain Barry Ferguson had his low strike saved by Frey in Rangers' first penalty.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Riccardo Montolivo kept Fiorentina ahead but Liverani was thwarted by Rangers' goalkeeper Neil Alexander before Vieri skied his penalty shot over to hand the initiative to Rangers.

In the other semi, striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored twice for Zenit but will miss the club's first European final through suspension after picking up a yellow card in the second half.

First-half strikes from Pogrebnyak and Konstantin Zyrianov put Zenit firmly in control, Viktor Fayzulin added a third shortly after the interval and Pogrebnyak sealed a memorable win with his second in the 73rd minute.

Bayern, who were European champions three years in a row in the mid-1970s and added a fourth title in 2001 after lifting the UEFA Cup in 1996, had the lion's share of possession in the first half but rarely troubled Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev.

Zenit will be looking to emulate fellow Russians CSKA Moscow, who won the UEFA Cup in 2005.