Head to Head taken from the Mail.....
Rangers' progression to the final was down to grit, determination and, more than anything, a sheer refusal to go out of the competition.
They failed to score in the home legs against Panathinaikos, Sporting or semi-finalists Fiorentina, but produced textbook European away performances to advance against the odds.
Each time the Scots went into the second leg as underdogs and each time their backs-to-the-wall, never-say-die, counter-attacking displays did the business.
Walter Smith's side did not concede a single goal in any of their four legs in the quarter or semi-finals, keeping out the likes of golden boot contenders Adrian Mutu and Liedson.
If Rangers reached the final because of their defensive solidity, Zenit owe their place to attacking verve.
Since scrapping through their group, the Russian outfit have scored 14 times in the knock-out stages - Rangers have mustered just five goals in that time.
They came back from trailing 3-0 at one point to see off Marseille in the last 16 before really making Europe sit up and take notice with successive annihilations of German opposition.
They hit four past Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in the quarters and another four past newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern in Russia in the semis.
MANAGERS
Walter Smith is as big a legend as they come at Ibrox having led the club to seven Scottish Premier League titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups.
The 60-year-old brought to an end a seven-year stay in the hotseat when became manager of Everton in 1998.
He enjoyed a successful stint as Scotland coach, laying the foundations for a fine Euro 2008 qualification campaign, before the lure of a return to Rangers proved too strong to resist.
Zenit coach Dick Advocaat succeeded Smith at Ibrox when the left for Rangers and enjoyed a fruitful four years with the Scottish giants.
The Dutchman guided them to a domestic treble in his first season and also recruited compatriots like Frank de Boer and Arthur Numan as established internationals flocked to the club.
Spells as a national boss in charge of Holland, United Arab Emirates and South Korea followed before he was recruited by Zenit - a team he looks like turning from European also-rans to a continental force.
PLAYERS
Zenit will be missing the
UEFA Cup's top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak, who has 11 goals in the competition so far, through suspension, but his loss will hardly blunt the Russian's attack.
They boast Argentinian striker Alejandro Dominguez - Bayern's tormentor-in-chief who gave Germany international full-back Marcell Jansen a torrid time in the second leg of the semi-final - as well as Andrei Arshavin, whom England found so difficult to deal with in the European Championship qualifiers.
Ukrainian midfield enforcer Anatoly Tymoschuk was signed for a Russian transfer record 20 million euros last year and dictates the game in the middle of the park.
Rangers will be relying on defender Carlos Cuellar and midfield dynamo and inspirational skipper Barry Ferguson in Manchester.
Cuellar, the winner of both the Scottish Football Writers' and SPL Player of the Year awards in his debut season in Glasgow, was at the heart of those superb defensive displays, while Ferguson will look to impose his own game on Tymoschuk.
Forward Jean-Claude Darcheville, who made the breakthrough in Lisbon, will provide the goal threat.
14th May: UEFA Cup Final
I am not being indecisive. Errrrr, maybe. I thought Zenit would be odds on 
It's like.... Rangers v QOS. The blue blob can't keep it up for ever. Football shall prevail etc. Quality over... blob. Zenit won't miss from 2-3 yards out that's for almost certain. And when they do score first..... hmm. 
If Rangers have been woeful at Ibrox why should they be any less shit in Manchester? I'm just saying. Don't get your knickers in a twist.
. And bitching about it as well probably.
