Miracle Man: Dick Advocaat's staggering transformation of Zenit has even won over the Communists

AS ST PETERSBURG basked in Zenit's momentous 5-1 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich, capitalists and communists joined forces to hail the achievements of the city's new white knight.

Alexei Miller, president of Zenit's mega-rich sponsors Gazprom, celebrated with his fellow oligarchs in the stands at Petrovsky Park, while St Petersburg Communist Party chief, Sergei Malinkovich called for the "proletarian internationalist Dick Advocaat" to be made a hero of the Russian state,after helping "crush the imperialist Prussian, NATO-backed Bayern Munich."

Advocaat had already earned himself the freedom of Russia's second city when he made good his promise to deliver Zenit's first Russian Premier League title and end Moscow's 15-year domestic dominance last December. But he could never have dared to predict that the team would now be standing on the brink of European success.

"What we're doing here at the moment is a miracle, given the squad that we have at the moment," says the former Rangers manager.

How does he explain the miracle? "It's very simple. The players are working their hearts out," he says. "That, together with the ability they have, is producing the required results. We are a tough proposition for any team."

In the course of Zenit's left-field assault on the UEFA Cup, Villarreal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and most recently Bayern Munich, have all discovered that in resounding fashion.

"When we arrived the club was sleeping," reflects Advocaat. "A lot of players were not up to scratch. In July I'll have been here two years. If you compare what we have now with what we had then, it's a very, very big difference.

"We did a lot of work to change the atmosphere at the club, to create a football atmosphere. At first I was in a state of shock. At training nobody applauded their team-mates when they did something good. Nobody spoke to each other. The players were working like automatons. It was hard to believe. Now we are a real football team."

The picture a year ago was somewhat different. Zenit were a club that smacked of internal turmoil. Not once but twice in the previous six months, club captain Vladislav Radimov had been engaged in bouts of fisticuffs with former Rangers hothead Fernando Ricksen. Over the space of six months, the captain's armband had changed hands four times. And then on the eve of a crunch game against main title rivals Spartak Moscow, three senior players, Igor Denisov, Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Anyukov, spent a night on the lash. Instead of fining them and keeping the matter behind closed doors, Advocaat banished them to the reserves, causing a very public debate. His message was clear: "The nonsense ends now."

Eventually, Advocaat stripped Radimov, club talisman and fans' favourite, of the captaincy, handing it instead to Anatoliy Timoschuk. It was a controversial decision, and, given that Timoshchuk is Ukrainian, one laced with political undertones that no Russian coach would have dared to take. It has proven to be one of several masterstrokes. Timoshchuk, who once flickered on Celtic's radar, has become Zenit's fulcrum. Advocaat describes him as "the best director of team play in the world".

"We couldn't allow ourselves to play without Timoshchuk in midfield," adds the Dutchman. "Timoshchuk provides the team with balance. Zenit's problem is that the players want to get forward too much, and don't want to work back. Timoshchuk neutralises that tendency. If we didn't have him in the holding role we'd have problems."

A key part of the Advocaat revolution has been a complete change in the approach to pre-season. Traditional wisdom in Russian football demands two training sessions a day, with the emphasis on draining physical routines. The Dutchman has put the focus squarely back on the ball.

"Perhaps the players were used to the idea that physical preparation means going for runs in the forest or on the beach etc. For me, physical preparation means playing games of ten on ten or seven on seven. We've shown them that focusing on playing games can bring the players into good physical condition."

He admits that convincing his staff to embrace his philosophy was not easy.

"It was a headache at first. I had a lot of debates with my assistants about the number of practice matches and training sessions, and the focus of each routine – how many one-touch, two-touch sessions, how many six, eight, ten-a-sides. It took a lot of energy. But the players responded well. Everyone knows players hate working without the ball. Those sessions take their toll not just physically but mentally. Match-based training helps the players prepare physically and improves the mood."

Advocaat's hero status has been hard-earned. When he first arrived in 2006, he had to weather a Baltic reception from the fans. A general wariness of foreign messiahs had been reinforced by the debacles of luminaries such as Nevio Scala (CSKA Moscow), Artur Jorge (Spartak Moscow) and Roland Courbis (Alania Vladikavkaz). Moreover, Zenit fans, long used to glorious failures at the hands of their Moscow rivals, have jealously prized their team's status as purveyors of beautiful football. Advocaat's more pragmatic approach did not win him instant admiration.

"When the team is winning, sooner or later the attitude changes," shrugs Advocaat. "I'm not here to win popularity contests, like certain coaches in the past. I'm here to build a good team. My philosophy is simple: when we win I'll be popular, when we lose, I won't. But I don't spend time thinking about this. If I'm popular fine – if I'm unpopular, that's fine too."

Nowadays, they shout his name from the terraces at Petrovsky. But while the hearts of the fans have been won, a battle to change the minds of those who hold the purse strings continues to rumble on. Spending on signings is nearly £50m over two years – but that is modest compared to the transfer bills of Zenit's main Moscow rivals – and Advocaat remains frustrated at the lack of options available, not to mention the overall state of the infrastructure at the club and across the Russian premier league.

"They are building a new (65,000-seater] stadium, but it's taking longer than planned," explains Advocaat. "The city's governor (Valentina Matvienko] is crazy about football and Zenit. But when I arrived I was promised that the stadium would already have been built by now. It hasn't been. I've kept my promise – the team won the league," he adds pointedly.

"The people at Gazprom are real football fans. But if they want to see Zenit become the dominant force in Russia on a regular basis, not to mention Europe, we can't rest on our laurels. You always need to have strong new players arriving."

Advocaat's activity in the winter transfer market was instead restricted to two low-profile signings, and his threadbare squad – he claims to have just 15 players at his disposal – has been further depleted by long-term injuries to Ricksen, Belgian defender Nico Lombaerts and South Korean full-back Kim Dong Jin.

The Dutchman's contract runs to the end of 2008, and thus far, he has demurred on signing an extension, throwing down a gauntlet to the club's financiers to match his ambitions. His future, he says, will depend on "the attitude of the management, the quality of the team, the potential for growth, the intentions and the ambitions of the club. When people want to see their team become truly strong, there are specific steps they need to take. We need to wait and see whether this happens."

"Advocaat's reputation in Russia is very, very, high now," says Russian football journalist, Igor Rabiner, of Sport Express. "He is probably going through one of the brightest periods of his career in St Petersburg."

If he leads the team to victory over his former club in Manchester later this month, it will be at its zenith.


Zenit's key players

ANDREI ARSHAVIN

Instrumental in Zenit's 4-1 victory over Leverkusen in the quarter-final and, though he was suspended for the 4-0 victory over Bayern, will be his side's main man in Manchester. Arshavin, below, has netted ten goals in 33 appearances for Russia.


FERNANDO RICKSEN

Former Rangers defender/midfielder has been reunited with Advocaat. Had two training ground bust-ups with former captain Vladislav Radimov.

ANATOLIY TYMOSCHUK

Zenit's new captain and orchestrator in midfield. Ukrainian international is heartbeat of the side.

VYACHESLAV MALAFEEV

Russian international goalkeeper has been on fine form for his club in their UEFA Cup campaign. Expected to play in European Championship in Austria and Switzerland this summer.