As Pavel Pogrebnyak swept in his second goal and Zenit St Petersburg’s fourth on Thursday, the television cameras panned across the jubilant crowd. They lingered on a balding figure in the front row, who seemed not to be celebrating at all. A bemused semi-grin on his face, he had his hands clasped to what remained of his hair, a picture of disbelief. That, far more than the fist-pumping duo next to him, seemed to sum up the mood: none of it made much sense.

Perhaps after a 1-1 draw in Germany, Zenit fans had dared to dream they might overcome Bayern Munich in the second leg, even though suspension had robbed them of their playmaker and captain Andrei Arshavin, even though four other regular first-teamers were out through injury or suspension, even though Russian sides have habitually choked on the big occasion. To beat the Bundesliga champions-elect 4-0 was, as the midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk said, “beyond belief”.

This is, after all, a team so out of sorts domestically that they lie 13th in the table, having won just one of their opening six games of the season, and they face a difficult trip to CSKA Moscow today. The explanation for the gulf between their European and league form is that they are best equipped to play on the break – and given the pace and intelligence of Arshavin and the likes of Igor Denisov, Aleksandr Anyukov and Konstantin Zyrianov there is an element of truth to that – but it doesn’t wholly wash.

Thursday’s game went perfectly for them in that, having taken a fourth-minute lead from Pogrebnyak’s free kick, they were able to sit back and pick Bayern off on the break, just as they had scythed through Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the quarter-final as they became increasingly desperate in their hunt for a first-leg advantage. The third and fourth goals on Thursday resulted from counters down the right teeing up chances for late runners (or, in the case of Pogrebnyak’s second, a late, hands-on-hips stroller).

Although Russian teams tend to set up negatively against them, what has been striking this season is how often Zenit have frittered points having held the lead – in other words, at just the time when they ought to be able to retreat behind the barricades and play the game the way that suits them. Excuses have been made about their northerly latitude, meaning the pitch at the Petrovsky remains stodgy and unsuited to their crisp passing far later in the spring than at more southerly grounds, but the truth is that the Uefa Cup has become almost their sole focus.

That is understandable, for this is about far more than just Zenit. Back in 2005, when CSKA became the first Russian side to win a European trophy, beating Sporting in the Uefa Cup final in Lisbon, the newspaper Sport Express proudly proclaimed that from then on, Russian football would be divided into Before and After Lisbon. This, it was felt, was a threshold and, having finally broken their duck, it was assumed that further international success would follow.

CSKA, though, after winning back-to-back domestic doubles were undermined when Sibneft withdrew their patronage, and with Gazprom, the gas company and Zenit’s sponsors, having bought 72.6 per cent of the oil giant in 2005, those resources are now supporting one of their major domestic rivals. About £25m was spent ahead of the 2007 season to bring in the likes of Tymoschuk, Pogrebnyak and the Argentinian winger Alejandro Dominguez, but their spending was more conservative this pre-season, and more than covered by the sale of the defender Martin Skrtel to Liverpool.

The core of the side - Pogrebnyak, Arshavin, Denisov, Anyukov, Zyrianov, Victor Fayzulin, Vyacheslav Malafeev, Roman Shirokov - remains Russian and, inevitably, that is a source of pride. There is a sense that if Zenit were to repeat CSKA’s triumph of three years ago, not only would it show that that success was not a fluke, they would be doing it with a local side, whereas CSKA’s key players that night in Lisbon were the Brazilians Daniel Carvalho and Vagner Love. There is a sinister side to that, which is the undisguised right-wing affiliation of many of Zenit’s fan groups. Zenit remain the only major Russian club never to have fielded a black player, and manager Dick Advocaat suggested last week that he dare not sign one. In Zenit’s 2-0 victory over Marseilles earlier in this season’s competition, the Marseilles defender Ronald Zubar claimed he had been racially abused. The club expressed bewilderment; the results of a Uefa investigation will be made public on Thursday.

The club have involved themselves in a number of anti-racism initiatives in a city noted for its right-wing politics, and their message seems to be that the attitudes of their more extreme fans should not detract from on-field achievements. And, while they were criticised for the negativity of some of their football in winning a first league title in 23 years last season, there can be no doubt that at times in the Uefa Cup they have been superb.

They thrived without Arshavin in the semi, but could face a greater problem replacing the suspended Pogrebnyak in the final. “It’s sad that he will miss what would be one of the most important matches of his life,” said Tymoschuk. “He is a key player, but other key players were missing and we beat Bayern.” The difference is that, wonderful player that Arshavin is, Zenit are not short of creative midfielders, whereas it is hard to see an obvious replacement for Pogrebnyak. It is not just that he is the leading scorer in the competition, it is his bulk and physicality, his ability to provide a central focus round which the more technically gifted players can buzz.

For their fans, meanwhile, the major problem is getting to Manchester. As English football stews over the difficulties of getting to Moscow for the Champions League final, however hard it is for Chelsea and Manchester United to get visas, it is far harder for followers of Zenit.

So who are Zenit?

- Zenit St Petersburg (formerly Zenit Leningrad) are the richest club in Russia, thanks to the £50m-plus sponsorship by Gazprom, the world’s biggest extractor of natural gas

- The club was founded as Leningrad Metal Works in 1925, becoming FC Zenit in 1940

- Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and film star Kirill Lavrov are celebrity fans, as was composer Dmitry Shostakovich

- St Petersburg was the scene of Russia’s October revolution in 1917. In 1967 Zenit finished bottom of the league but were saved from relegation after it was decided it would be unwise to relegate a Leningrad team during the revolution’s 50th anniversary

- Zenit reached Uefa Cup quarterfi nals in 2006, but a poor start to the league season saw coach Vlastimil Petrzela replaced by former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat

- Among the players he brought in is former Rangers defender Fernando Ricksen. In January, they sold defender Martin Skrtel to Liverpool for £7m

- Zenit won the 2007 Russian Premier League, only the second title in their history, to qualify for the group stage of the 2008-09 Champions League