European Football

Zenit coach happy with win, closes door on Arshavin move

22:16 BST, Fri 29 Aug 2008
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Russia's (L-R) Vasily Berezutsky, Andrei Arshavin and Igor Akinfeyev walk off the pitch after losing to Spain in the Euro 2008 semi-final soccer match at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, June 26, 2008.  REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (AUSTRIA)  MOBILE OUT. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

By Mike Collett

MONACO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Coach Dick Advocaat was delighted with the free-flowing football Zenit St Petersburg produced in their 2-1 European Super Cup win over Champions League winners Manchester United on Friday.

Advocaat also ended media speculation over a move to England for Andrei Arshavin, saying the Russia playmaker would be staying with the UEFA Cup holders.

"The way we played tonight was superb and we definitely deserved the victory," the Dutchman told reporters.

"In fact I am surprised we did not score more goals. We deserved to win by a bigger margin."

As for Arshavin, Advocaat said: "The door is closed, the deal is closed.

"Tottenham did not offer the 22 million pounds ($40.28 million) we wanted for him and what we think he is worth. They offered 16 million pounds and, with respect, that is not enough so that's the end of it."

Alex Ferguson, who won the Super Cup with Aberdeen in 1983 and with United in 1991, was bidding to become the first manager to win the trophy three times.

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"We played our best when we were 2-0 down," said Ferguson. "We put a good effort in. It was a warm night and there are tired players out there."

Zenit netted on the stroke of halftime through Pavel Pogrebnyak and doubled their lead after 59 minutes when record signing Danny scored a fine individual effort on his debut.

United pulled one back through Nemanja Vidic with 17 minutes to play before having Paul Scholes sent off in the dying stages for a second bookable offence when he punched the ball into the Zenit net.

"It was an instinctive thing he did," said Ferguson. "It's a bit unfortunate."

Scholes is likely to be banned for one European match, missing United's opening Champions League game against Villarreal next month.

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