Advocaat calls for final effort May 11 2008
Dick Advocaat has demanded his Zenit St Petersburg stars "finish the job" as they bid to capture the UEFA Cup and destroy Rangers' quadruple hopes.
Advocaat has steered his team past four mighty opponents in the knock-out stages - Villarreal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
The former Gers boss must cope without the competition's joint top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak, who is suspended for the Manchester showpiece, but insists belief in the Zenit camp is strong after a 4-0 win over Bayern in the semi-finals.
"After the second leg against Bayern I told my players that if they play that well again, like they have done in the previous rounds, then they have a chance of winning the competition," Advocaat said.
"I've brought a winning spirit to Zenit, and the most important thing for me now is to win the UEFA Cup.
"If we have come this far then we have to finish the job. In order to win we should go out onto the field full of confidence like we did in the previous rounds of the competition.
"We should already be very proud of reaching the final."
Advocaat saw Walter Smith's men in action at Ibrox last Wednesday, when Barry Ferguson hit the second-half winner in a 1-0 victory over Motherwell.
The Dutchman described the game as "very nervy" and knows the Light Blues are at the crunch stage of their league season.
He appreciates the Zenit supporters will be far outnumbered by their Scottish counterparts in Manchester, because the Scottish fans face the easier journey.
"One way or another Rangers will play as if it were a home game," he said.
"We rely on the support of the Zenit fans and I hope that they will turn out for the final. It's very important for us."