Dick Advocaat, the Zenit St Petersburg coach, yesterday insisted he is ready to end the trophy dreams of his former club, Rangers, in the Uefa Cup final. Advocaat, who was manager at Ibrox between 1998 and 2001, said that while he was delighted to see his old club reach their first European final in 36 years, he will have no compunction about snatching the trophy away from them on May 14.

“It is great that Rangers will meet us in the final,” he said. “It will be a terrific occasion and I can’t wait to see David [Sir David Murray, the Rangers chairman] and all my other friends from my time in Scotland. But beating them will not be a problem for me.

“It is a sporting event, a cup final and you obviously want your team to win. May the best team win on the night. The bookies might have us as favourites but I don’t think we are, I think it is a 50-50 game. But I am looking forward to what is going to be a great occasion. We are not an elite club, not yet anyway. We don’t have the status of Chelsea or other big European clubs, but, hopefully, if we continue to play like we did against Bayern, then anything is possible.”

Zenit’s attacking display against Bayern, the former four-times European champions, in second leg of the semi-final at the Petrovsky Stadium even impressed Ottmar Hitzfeld, the coach of the German side. “Any team that beats Bayern 4-0 must be the favourites,” Hitzfeld said.

But Zenit will have to do it without the services of their top striker, Pavel Pogrebnyak. The Russia international was booked late in the game after scoring twice to join Luca Toni, the Bayern striker, as the top scorer in the Uefa Cup with ten goals apiece. “It was a stupid foul but I hope my teammates will carry the load for me,” Pogrebnyak said.

Advocaat is used to replacing team members after Zenit played the second leg against Bayern without three suspended players - Andrei Arshavin, the Russia playmaker, Radek Sirl, the Czech Republic international, and Fernando Ricksen, the Dutch midfield player, and a former Rangers player. “No one is irreplaceable. Others will have to do a bit more to get the job done,” Advocaat said.

The Dutchman, who moved to Zenit in 2006 after quitting as South Korea coach, made winning the European trophy a priority this season. “Zenit have never played in a European final, so this Uefa Cup means a great deal for this club, for the fans, for the whole city,” he said. “After coming this far, we certainly don’t want to stop there.”

Zenit, backed by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, will make their Champions League debut in September. Advocaat, who in November extended his contract for another year, has already asked the team’s sponsors to splash their cash to strengthen the squad. “When you compete against the best clubs in Europe you can’t rely on 11 or 12 players,” he said. “If we want to become a top club we must have the same number of quality players as any other team.”