The Uefa Cup final was an absorbing contest, not an example of anti-football. Rangers may not have won the Uefa Cup, but this was a wonderfully spirited and intelligent performance - and one that was entirely in keeping with the thrillingly cussed and belligerent displays that had brought them to Eastlands.
You didn't need to be a Rangers fan to be gripped by this Uefa Cup final. It's a point that needs to be made. Rangers in Europe - so we have been told - are a team in thrall to a nihilistic blanket defence, pioneers of a neurotically cautious Scotch Bolt. Five goals were scored in nine knockout ties including tonight. This, it has been suggested by some, just isn't on. What game do they think they're playing? Where are the thrills? Where are the spills?
It's still one of the most irritating aspects of football's flowering into a global light entertainment product that this kind of thing gets punted about the place. Increasingly, the skills valued by the mass market of football consumers are limited to those that are lightest on the palate - and most telegenic.
Everybody likes a little flair. But moments of individual flourish should be hard-won, their impact decisive. Teams such as Rangers - well organised, physically resilient, highly-skilled in defence - preserve the value of these game-breaking skills. Put simply, they make you work for it.
True, Rangers did start this final with four centre backs across their back line in Kirk Broadfoot, Sasa Papac, David Weir and Carlos Cuellar. They left out the attacking midfielder Nacho Novo. Their opening move of the game, after three seconds, was a diagonal pass from right-back for Jean-Claude Darcheville to hare after.
And as expected we saw contrasting styles: a team that played the ball to its forwards' feet at interesting angles around the penalty area; against a team that steeled itself to defend and then break to support its front man. But Rangers also played some nice stuff, keeping the ball in midfield before springing forward - to dramatic effect as early as the eighth minute when Darcheville almost found Steven Whittaker with a pull-back close to goal. These were isolated moments. Much of the joy of watching Rangers play in Europe is what could be called a Tetris Defence: that sense of gaps constantly plugged and holes filled with hard-running cover from midfield and back four. Zenit stretched Rangers on the flanks. Andrei Arshavin roamed across the front line. Konstantin Zyryanov pulled out wide on the right. Rangers tracked doggedly.
The closest Zenit came in the first half was a shout for a penalty when a cross hit Broadfoot's outstretched arm from close range inside the area. Some referees give them, but not this one. He was consistent too: Rangers went unrewarded in the second half when the ball ricocheted into Igor Denisov's upper arm in the six-yard box. Zenit's goal came after Rangers had looked to be changing tack and chasing a goal in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Denisov's run in behind Cuellar was well timed. The goal was made by Arshavin's perfectly weighted pass.
And yes, even for a Rangers-centric neutral, there was a thrill of delayed gratification in this isolated moment of skillful execution . This was an opening you knew the Russians had worked for. It was Zenit's goal - but you applauded it partly out of appreciation for the skill of Rangers' defending to that point. So, Zenit held on and even got another in the 94th minute, again created by a clever pass by Arshavin. In truth Rangers never looked like having the attacking variations, or the resources within their squad, to chase the game with 15 minutes remaining. Arshavin was the most talented attacker on display. Rangers' cussed defence gave him a stage to show his skills and he rose to the challenge. This isn't anti-football. It's just football.
Another thought about Rangers' progress in Europe. It's worth considering the recent record of English teams in this tournament. For all the potency of the Premier League's executive elite, the Uefa Cup tells us this isn't a strength with any depth. This year Blackburn went out in the first round. Bolton, Everton and Spurs in the last 16. Going further back Liverpool in 2001 are the only English team to win the Uefa Cup in the last 24 years, in which time the English league has provided only three finalists.
Recently the suspicion has arisen that, perhaps, some of them just don't care enough to work at this the way Rangers have. Last season Steve Coppell said he didn't want Reading to qualify for the Uefa Cup because it wasn't a lucrative enough competition. This year Gary Megson scandalously fielded a second team when Bolton played Sporting.
All the more reason, then, to applaud both Rangers and Zenit; and to enjoy the spectacle of two teams competing for a prize they genuinely coveted. In the build-up both teams admitted to feeling an additional burden of expectation. "It would give more credibility to the game in our country if we could win," Walter Smith pointed out. Russian football has a similar agenda. CSKA Moscow's success in this tournament three years ago was hailed as an era-defining, floodgates-opening moment. Tonight might just be another step in that direction. But Scotland can also be proud.
Author: Barney Ronay
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