Ricksen says loyalties are with Zenit

Updated: May 10, 2008, 3:29 PM EST Comment

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - Former Rangers captain Fernando Ricksen has no doubts where his loyalties will be when he plays for Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final.

"I don't care about Glasgow's fans. My fans are now in Russia," Ricksen said ahead of Wednesday's game against Rangers in Manchester, England. "I think that we have showed through the whole campaign in the UEFA Cup that we can play excellent football and can finish off stronger teams."

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The 31-year-old midfielder spent six years with Rangers before signing with Zenit in 2006. Zenit, last year's domestic league champion, is trying to become the second Russian club to win the UEFA Cup after CSKA Moscow won the title in 2005.

The club is now near the bottom of the Russian league standing, and asked for four games to be postponed to prepare for the cup final.

"For us it's a UEFA Cup game and it doesn't matter who we play. The most important thing is to win," Ricksen said. "I hope that we will bring the UEFA Cup back to Russia."

Rangers won the Scottish League Cup in February, and could also clinch the league title and Scottish Cup. But the Scottish Premier League has refused to alleviate the club's fixture congestion, rejecting calls to postpone Saturday's game against Dundee United.

"They will have a very important game on Saturday and they are scared to get some players injured," said Zenit coach Dick Advocaat, himself a former Rangers manager.

Zenit will have playmaker Andrei Arshavin back from suspension and is hoping that injured defender Alexander Anyukov will be fit for the match. But striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who scored two goals in an impressive 4-0 win over Bayern Munich in the second leg of the semifinals, will sit out the game with two yellow cards.

While Zenit is the favorite, the Scottish champions will have stronger fan support in Manchester.

"That will be an advantage for them in that way, but we are used to that," Ricksen said. "We can play anywhere."

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