CSKA Make Russian History

CSKA Moscow became the first Russian club to lift a European trophy with the 3-1 victory against Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup Final played in Sporting’s own Jose Alvalade Stadium last night.CSKA Moscow became the first Russian club to lift a European trophy with the 3-1 victory against Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup Final played in Sporting’s own Jose Alvalade Stadium last night.

CSKA have broken the Russian drought after Ukraine’s Dynamo Kiev and Georgia’s Dynamo Tblisi of Georgia had both claimed European silverware in the Soviet era.

Rogerio appeared to have read the script when he gave the strongly favoured home team a 29th minute lead with a superb strike from just outside the area.

CSKA started their European campaign in the second qualifying round of the Champions League and have played a record-equalling 19 European games this season - ten games in the Champions League and nine in the UEFA Cup

And the former army side (CSKA being the Central Sporting Army Club) hit back in 19 second-half minutes with three goals, all created by Brazilian midfielder Daniel Carvalho.

To the delight of the 2,000 CSKA supporters, defender Alexei Berezutsky headed CSKA level on 56 minutes then nine minutes later Carvalho set-up Yuri Zhirkov. Brazilian striker Vagner Love sealed their historic success with 15 minutes to play.

Speaking to Russian television, coach Valery Gazzayev said: “They are heroes. They did the impossible. From our first match in the UEFA Cup we had this goal — to win the Cup — and we achieved what we set out to do.

“The players totally deserved this victory because they’ve played well throughout the entire competition.”

CSKA’s against-the-odds success also meant that Sporting became only the third club to lose a single match European final in their own stadium.

Ferencvaros became the first club from the Eastern bloc to capture a European trophy when the Hungarians won the final of the 1965 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup with a 1-0 win against Juventus in the Turin club’s old Stadio Comunale home. In 1984, Liverpool won the European Cup for the fourth time when they memorably beat AS Roma on penalties in the cauldron of the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

The CSKA defeat completed a miserable few days for Sporting Lisbon, whose chances of winning the Portuguese SuperLiga ended at the weekend with defeat to Benfica.