Advocaat: One final push

Dutchman calls for fans final support

By Hayley Paterson   Last updated: 11th May 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Advocaat: One final push

Advocaat: Wants UEFA cup

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Dick Advocaat hopes his Zenit St Peterburg stars will defeat his former club Rangers in the Uefa Cup final and destroy their bid for the quadruple.

The Dutchman has steered his Russian side past European giants Villarreal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in the knock-out stages. But Advocaat wants his players to "finish the job" - with Rangers their final opponents.

He said: "After the second leg, against Bayern, I told my players that if they play that well again, like they have done in the previous rounds, then they have a chance of winning the competition.

"I've brought a winning spirit to Zenit, and the most important thing for me now is to win the Uefa Cup.

"If we have come this far then we have to finish the job. In order to win, we should go out onto the field full of confidence like we did in the previous rounds of the competition.

"We should already be very proud of reaching the final," Advocaat added.

Confident

Gers boss Walter Smith is confident Kevin Thomson will be available after initial concerns he could miss the cup final after picking up an ankle injury during the 3-1 win over Dundee United.

Zenit will also be without the competition's joint top-scorer, Pavel Pogrebniak, who is suspended for the tie at the City of Manchester stadium. Despite Rangers being the better side on paper, Advocaat is hoping the Russian fans will act as their twelfth man.

"One way or another, Rangers will play as if it were a home game.

"We rely on the support of the Zenit fans and I hope that they will turn out for the final - it's very important for us," he added.