Zenit St Petersburg strode into the Uefa Cup final after a thumping 4-0 win over Bayern Munich.
Russian champions reach first ever European final
Zenit St Petersburg strode into the Uefa Cup final with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich after a thumping 4-0 win in Russia.
The Russian champions proved too strong for Bayern to end the German giants' hopes of reaching the final in Manchester.
Goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak (2), Konstantin Zyrianov, and Victor Fayzulin were enough to give Dick Advocaat's men a memorable win and send them into their first ever European final.
Bayern almost got off to a dream start in the opening two minutes when Miroslav Klose saw his volley kicked off the line by Roman Shirokov.
Three minutes later Zenit broke the deadlock. Pavel Pogrebnyak drilled a low free-kick from the edge of the box through the Bayern wall and past Oliver Kahn.
The goal stung Bayern into action and Franck Ribery tried to haul the visitors back into the game with a shot from the edge of the box which Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev gathered at the second attempt.
Zenit went close to adding a second goal on 21 minutes when Alejandro Dominguez slipped Aleksandr Anyukov in on goal only to see Kahn keep out the defender's goalbound shot with his feet.
Miss
Bayern really should have drawn level on 26 minutes when Luca Toni wastefully headed over the top from close-range after Martin Demichelis had headed the ball across goal for the Italian.
Demichelis was inches away from equalising two minutes later when he rose above Malafeev to Ribery's corner only to flick his header wide of the target.
The home side doubled their lead six minutes before the break with a fine solo goal from Zyrianov .
He produced a sublime dummy to fool two Bayern challenges to go clear on goal and he kept his cool to slot the ball past Kahn and send the home fans into raptures.
Bayern started the second half on the front foot and Toni saw a powerful shot from the edge of the box pushed away by Malafeev four minutes after the restart.
But Zenit put the game beyond Bayern on 56 minutes when Fayzulin arrived in the box to head home Igor Denisov's cross past Kahn.
Clincher
The Russians piled the misery on Bayern when they added a fourh goal on 73 minutes when Dominguez broke down the right and pulled the ball back for Pogrebnyak to clinically place his shot into the bottom corner past a bemused Kahn.
Pogrebnyak spoiled his night's work on 76 minutes when he picked up a needless booking to rule him out of the final later this month.
