Zenit and Rangers bid for UEFA Cup

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - The UEFA Cup will have a new name etched on to it after Zenit St Petersburg meet Rangers in the final at the City of Manchester stadium on Wednesday.

Following back-to-back wins by Sevilla, Russian champions Zenit are in their first European final while Rangers are in their first since 1972 when they lifted the Cup Winners' Cup.

Zenit's victims en route to the final include Olympique Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen but it was their semi-final victory with its a 4-0 home leg win over Bayern Munich, that highlighted the attacking threat of Dick Advovcaat's side.

Their goalscoring prowess is likely to be diminished by the absence from the final of suspended striker Pavel Pogrebynak, joint top scorer in the competition.

The final pits Advocaat against Walter Smith, the man he succeeded when Smith ended his first spell at Ibrox in 1998. Advocaat guided Rangers to two league titles before moving on to take charge of the Dutch national side.

(Reporting by Justin Palmer, Editing by Clare Lovell)