Final Misery

Gers fans feel the pain

Rangers marathon UEFA Cup run came to an end at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday after a 2-0 defeat by Zenit St Petersburg.

Manchester was taken over by Scots, clearly excited by the prospect of delivering their first major trophy in Europe, 36 years on from the Cup Winners' Cup triumph over Dynamo Moscow in Barcelona.

They packed the city bars and squares and as Glasweigans do – embarked on a marathon booze session.

The scene was set and the 25,000 who were lucky to get inside the ground were in excellent voice but unfortunately the game failed to live up to the expectations of the Gers followers.

Rangers fought hard in a tense affair, it wasn’t pretty and they could even be criticised as negative as the Scots failed to penetrate a well organised side under the stewardship of international stalwart Dick Advocaat.

There was really no way back after the Russians struck, Igor Denisov slipped the ball under Neil Alexander on 72 minutes, it was heartbreaking but Rangers never looked like threatening.

The final nail in the coffin was hammered home just before full time when Konstantin Zyrianovc made it 2-0. Rangers’ European dream was well and truly shattered, inevitably a fringe element became ‘over-exuberant’ and trouble flared on the streets of Manchester.

It will be sore pride and sore heads for many a Rangers fan today.

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