Zenit at 5-4 to dash Rangers' hopes

Zenit St Petersburg are fancied to end Rangers’ ambitions of an unprecedented quadruple and land general odds of 5-4 by triumphing in the Uefa Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Walter Smith’s men remain favourites to win the Scottish Premier League, have already won the League Cup and face Queen of the South in the Scottish FA Cup final the weekend after next. However, they appear to face a stiff task against a Zenit side that demolished Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. Bayern have since been crowned German champions.

Rangers booked their place in the final on a penalty shoot-out against Fiorentina but have drawn criticism for their defensive tactics employed through the competition.

Zenit, who are managed by former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat, are entitled to be the fresher of the two sides after their domestic games were cancelled following their semi-final triumph on May 1. Rangers, for their part, played their third league game in seven days on Saturday.

The Russians must make do without striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, the competition’s top scorer, who is suspended, but welcome back influential playmaker Andrei Arshavin, who missed the second leg of the semi-final.

Having produced some big performances en route to the final, including defeats of Villarreal and Olympique Marseille in the early knockout rounds, Zenit can raise their game once more to become the second Russian side in four seasons to lift the trophy after CSKA Moscow’s success in 2005.

Rangers are available at a best-priced 27-10 with Bet365. The draw is a general 9-4.