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Russian side Zenit stun United to triumph in Super Cup final

29/08/2008

Manchester United have suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Zenit St Petersburg in the Super Cup final in Monaco.

Goals from Pavel Pogrebniak and Danny in each half saw the Uefa Cup winners lift the trophy, while Nemanja Vidic scored a consolation.

United’s miserable night was compounded by Paul Scholes being sent-off on 89 minutes for his second booking, meaning he will be suspended for the first Champions League group game next month.

It is the second time Sir Alex Ferguson has suffered heartbreak in the Super Cup, after their 1-0 defeat to Lazio in 1999.

United fielded a strong line-up including the return of Gary Neville and Nani while Petersburg left Andrei Arshavin on the bench, sparking rumours he could join Tottenham Hotspur.

The Russian side made a bright start with Pogrebniak firing a shot over from the edge of the box on seven minutes while Anatoliy Tymoschuk’s half-volley ended up on the roof of the net.

United’s best chance of the half came on 35 minutes when Carlos Tevez played Wayne Rooney in on goal but his shot from eight yards was easily saved.

But Dick Advocaat’s men continued to create the better chances with Danny, a £25 million summer signing, flicking a header over from three yards.

And their possession was rewarded a minute from half-time when follwing a corner, Igor Denisov’s flick-on was nodded in by Pogrebniak from close range.

Arshavin came on for the second half and almost made an instant impact when his deflected shot was saved by Edwin van der Sar.

But van der Sar could do nothing on the hour mark when Danny took the ball past Rio Ferdinand and lashed a shot past the Dutch keeper from 12 yards to make it 2-0.

That forced Ferguson to bring on Park Ji-Sung and John O’Shea in place of Anderson and Darren Fletcher.

Tevez was the European champions’ biggest threat and came inches away to scoring on 65 minutes with a venomous long-range effort.

Eight minutes later, United were back in the match when centre-back Vidic headed in a corner.

And the Premier League champions enjoyed their best spell of the game in the final 15 minutes with Nani slicing a shot wide while O’Shea’s header was tipped over the bar by Vyacheslav Malafeev.

But their chances of leveling were dented on 89 minutes when Scholes was given a second booking for punching the ball in the net. And Zenit held on after four minutes of injury time to record another scalp in European competition.