Manchester United 1 v 2 Zenit St. Petersburg: Zenit Win UEFA Super Cup in Monaco
August 29, 2008 by CLDsport
Manchester United have been beaten 2-1 in Monaco by UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg. Goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and new £25million signing Danny put Zenit 2-0 up, before a Vidic close range effort gave United hope of a comeback.
Zenit were the better team throughout the 90 minutes, and always looked worthy winners. With more creativity, flare and zest about them, the Russians made United look poor.
As United were enjoying their best period of the match, Paul Scholes inexplicably - and deliberately - put the ball into the net with his hand, leading to his second yellow card, and was therefore sent off.
Alex Ferguson will surely be disappointed, after making it clear that this was a match he wanted to win. Zenit St Petersburg’s season started 5 months ago, and you could argue that they have the advantage with regards to match fitness.
However, excuses aside, the Champions League winners did not perform to their full potential tonight, and it cost them the chance to win the Super Cup.
During the first 45 minutes, Man Utd’s under-strength midfield - missing Carrick, Ronaldo, and Hargreaves - failed to make any impression. Scholes managed to see some of the ball, but Anderson, Nani and Fletcher were almost non-existent.
Pogrebnyak twice wasted golden opportunities before the break, after good work from Zyryanov and Anyukov. Seconds before the half-time whistle though, and ther striker made amends. Denisov flicked on Dominguez’s corner, and Pogrebnyak forced home the opener. It was no more than Zenit deserved.
Andrei Arshavin - strongly linked with a move to Spurs this summer, more on that later - was introduced at half-time, and immediately added to United’s troubles. However, it was his potential replacement Danny, recently purchased from Dinamo Moscow, who added to Zenit’s lead.
A magnificent run from the £25million man saw him manoeuvre his way through the United defence, with Ferdinand looking particularly at fault in front of the watching Fabio Capello, before smashing the ball past van der Sar. 2-0.
Danny’s goal seemed to wake United up, and suddenly their play improved. A long spell of pressure almost inevitably led to, what proved to be, a consolation from Vidic.
Tevez coolly played the ball back to Vidic to slot home after some good work from Rooney. An onslought of United attack followed, with substitutes John O’Shea and Park Ji-Sung, along with Rooney all coming close to an equaliser.
It failed to materialise however, and United will be disappointed but not devastated to have lost this match. There is much to come from this side, with Ronaldo and possibly Berbatov to add to the talent available.
Carlos Tevez played a ‘blinder’ this evening. His workrate was amazing, and his natural talent was obvious. If United had had a couple more members of the team playing with the same passion, they may well have seen a different result.
Andrei Arshavin
After the match, Zenit manager Dick Advocaat was asked for his views on the possible deal involving Spurs and Arshavin, his response was;
“The door’s closed, the deal’s closed.
“Tottenham offered £16m and that’s not enough, so that’s the end of it. They had several weeks of time to buy him and they did not offer £22m like everybody has been writing, but just £16m. I think that Arshavin costs more than £16m.”
It seems Tottenham have a lot of work to do if they are to capture Arshavin before the transfer deadline day on Monday.
Full report to follow shortly……
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