2008 UEFA Super Cup

Manchester United	Zenit Saint Petersburg

1	2

Date

29 August 2008

Venue

Stade Louis II, Monaco

Man of the Match

Danny (Zenit Saint Petersburg)

Referee

Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)

Attendance

18,064

Weather

Sunny
25 °C (77 °F)
78% humidity

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The 2008 UEFA Super Cup was the 33rd UEFA Super Cup, a football match played between the winners of the previous season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions. The 2008 competition was contested by Manchester United of England, who won the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League, and Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia, the winners of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. The match was played on 29 August 2008 at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

Zenit won the match 2–1, Pavel Pogrebnyak scoring just before half-time, before Danny doubled the Russians' lead just before the hour mark. Nemanja Vidić reduced the deficit to one goal in the 73rd minute, but it was not enough to wrest the trophy from Zenit's grasp, as they became the first Russian team to win the competition. The sending-off of Paul Scholes in the 90th minute resulted in him missing Manchester United's opening game in their defence of the Champions League, a home tie against Villarreal.

This was Zenit's first appearance in the competition, while Manchester United had appeared twice before, in 1991 and 1999; their first appearance finished in a 1–0 win over Red Star Belgrade, while their most recent appearance was a 1–0 loss to Lazio, the last winners of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup to compete in the UEFA Super Cup.

The opening exchanges of the match were dominated by Zenit, counter-attacking down their right flank, exploiting the attack-minded Patrice Evra. Both Konstantin Zyryanov and Aleksandr Anyukov created opportunities on the right wing, only for Pavel Pogrebnyak to miss the target from a promising position on both occasions. Danny also managed to break into the box from the right-hand by-line, only for Rio Ferdinand to block his low cross.

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