Advocaat dismisses racism concerns

Coach Dick Advocaat has defended Zenit St Petersburg fans against allegations of racism as the Russian team prepared to meet Rangers in the UEFA Cup final.

Zenit face Rangers on Wednesday at the City of Manchester stadium after having won their place there with an impressive series of victories over Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Marseille.

But a UEFA investigation into claims that Zenit supporters racially abused Marseille players during their last-16 match in Russia in March has tarnished their image.

British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe warned fans they faced tough punishment if there was any trouble, saying in British media this week: "Come here and racially abuse black players and you will feel the full force of the law."

Asked he if was worried that his team's fans would misbehave, Advocaat told a news conference: "No not all because there is no issue at Zenit."

He said it was a shame a lot of the pre-match build-up had focussed on questioning how fans would behave rather than appreciating how well the team had done to reach their first European final.

"Rangers as well as Zenit were not expected to get to the final, we both played against very good teams in the world, so it was a great achievement for both teams," said Advocaat, who coached Rangers from 1998-2002.

"In that way I feel we deserve a little bit more respect ... This is a football match and it is not about colour."

Zenit, aiming to emulate CSKA Moscow's success in the competition in 2005, will be without the competition's joint top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak, who is suspended, but Advocaat said he was not dwelling on his absence.

"I always talk about the players who are available, not the ones who are not there. We did that against Bayern and we're going to do that again tomorrow. The players who are available, they have to do it, even without Pavel," he said.

The Russia international said he was upset to be missing out on the big day.

"I'm very sorry I can't help my team in the final," he said. "You don't get the chance very often (to play in a final) and I hope that without me my team will be able to win."

Rangers supporters, with a much shorter journey to make, are expected to outnumber Zenit fans at the stadium and Advocaat said this would probably be an advantage for the Scottish team.

But he pointed out: "We have 150 million in Russia who support us. It's a big difference."