UEFA Cup

Zenit crush Bayern 4-0 to reach UEFA Cup final

19:58 GMT, Thu 1 May 2008
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Zenit St. Petersburg's Konstantin Zyrianov (R) celebrates with team mate Pavel Pogrebnyak after scoring a goal against Bayern Munich during their UEFA Cup semi-final, second-leg soccer match in St. Petersburg, May 1, 2008.  REUTERS/Grigory Dukor  (RUSSIA)

By Gennady Fyodorov

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 1 (Reuters) - Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored twice as Zenit St Petersburg stunned favourites Bayern Munich 4-0 on Thursday to reach the UEFA Cup final.

Zenit, who won the semi-final tie 5-1 on aggregate against four times European champions Bayern, will meet either Fiorentina or Rangers in the May 14 final at the City of Manchester Stadium in England.

Pogrebnyak, however, 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.

POGREBNYAK BLAST

Pogrebnyak blasted the home team ahead just four minutes into the game when his low drive right down the middle from 22 metres appeared to fool Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn.

Zenit could have added another following one of their rare forays into Bayern's half in the 21st minute when defender Alexander Anyukov fired a low shot from a tight angle but this time Kahn made a fine save.

At the other end, Bayern striker Luca Toni, who was suspended for the first leg, headed over the bar from close range, one of several chances the visitors missed in the first half despite having a huge territorial advantage.

The home side, missing three key players in Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin, Czech international Radek Sirl and Dutch midfielder Fernando Ricksen through suspension, made it 2-0 six minutes before the interval.

Zyrianov dribbled into the box and beat Kahn from 11 metres after a nice feed from Argentine Alejandro Dominguez.

Zenit carried their momentum into the second half while Bayern, who are on the verge of a 21st Bundesliga title, appeared to fall apart.

Fayzulin added a third with a powerful header just under the crossbar following pin-point cross from Anyukov in the 54th minute before Pogrebnyak completed the rout to the delight of a capacity 22,500-strong crowd at the Petrovsky stadium.

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