UEFA Cup Final: No old pals' act for Advocaat

Wednesday May 14, 2008
MANCHESTER - Zenit St Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat will brush aside his feelings for former club Rangers when the two sides meet in Wednesday's UEFA Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Advocaat was manager at Ibrox between 1998 and 2001 and much of the hype surrounding this game has centred on the mostly positive relationship between the former Holland boss and the Govan club.

The Dutchman has been widely quoted as saying he is looking forward to meeting up with friends and former colleagues before the game, including the man who bankrolled his period in Glasgow, Rangers owner, Sir David Murray.

However, the Zenit boss will focus on bringing the Russian club's first European trophy back to St Petersburg.

He said: "It is important that I don't become emotional. This is a football match and hopefully I will feel positive afterwards.

"The build-up has been about Zenit being the favourites but Rangers should be shown respect for what they have done this season.

"Rangers have reached the UEFA Cup final and the Scottish Cup final, they have won the League Cup and will hopefully win the SPL.

"They deserve the full respect of everyone in Scotland.

"We know a lot about each other's teams and I don't think Rangers will change their style of play and neither will I.

"So we expect a good game but I hope that Zenit are the winners."

Advocaat, who won Scottish Football Writers' manager of the year award in his first season after winning a treble in Scotland, joked about the abilities of Rangers' Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar who won the player of the year award last Sunday.

He said: "Carlos is a good player and that is the reason he won the player of the year award in Scotland.

"I know how difficult it is to do these things if you are a foreigner in Scotland. It means a lot."

Zenit had two Russian Premier League games postponed in order to prepare for the game while Rangers are embroiled in a fixture pile-up, their last game being against Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday.

But Advocaat was reluctant to claim that his side have the advantage.

He said: "If we lose then the people will say it was a bad idea (to postpone the games).

"If we win, then they will say it's a good idea. It is all about results. So we will see."

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