CSKA Moscow came from behind to beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 and capture the UEFA Cup.
Second half goals from Alexei Berezutskiy, Yuri Zhirkov and Vagner Love were enough to ensure that CSKA became the Russian club to win a European title.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time to Rogerio’s superb shot, CSKA were transformed after the break to beat Sporting in their Jose Alvalade stadium.
Daniel Carvalho was an influential figure in the second half, having a hand in all three goals.
Carvalho crossed to Berezutskiy for the equaliser in the 57th minute. CSKA took the lead in the 66th when Carvalho sent a through ball to Zhirkov, who ran into the area and shot the ball through the legs of Sporting keeper Ricardo.
With a quarter of an hour left Rogerio missed an open goal following Tello’s shot. The ball broke upfield and Carvalho brushed aside Joseph Enakarhire’s challenge to cross for Love and the Brazilian made no mistake firing the ball into the net.
Love made it 3-1 in the 75th, scoring into an open net after a pass from Carvalho on the counterattack.
“We were ashamed by our first-half performance,” Carvalho said.
“In the interval, we felt that if we were going to lose, we should lose with honor, so we went out and played like we can.”
Carvalho, who moved from the Brazilian club Internacional last year, was named man of the match.
Rogerio had earlier given Sporting a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute, shooting from outside the area into the top right corner of the goal to beat 19-year-old goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Sporting enjoyed plenty pf possession but they were unable to break down a very physical CSKA defence.
“We knew Sporting would start strong in front of their own fans so for the first 20 minutes we had to be careful and defensive to slow them down,” said CSKA coach Valery Gazzayev.
“In the second half, we had to correct our midfield and we became more offensive.”
The CSKA fans celebrated wildly on the final whistle. Around 4,000 fans from Russia had travelled for the final, vastly outnumbered by the home crowd.
UEFA Cup final
Sporting 1-3 CSKA Moscow
Scorers:
Sporting: Rogerio 28.
CSKA: Alexei Berezutsky 57, Zhirkov 66, Vagner Love 75.
Att: 48,000.
Ref: Graham Poll (England).
Teams:
Sporting: Ricardo, Miguel Garcia, Beto, Enakahire, Tello, Rogerio (Douala 79), Rochemback, Joao Moutinho (Viana 87), Pedro Barbosa, Liedson, Sa Pinto (Niculae 72).
Subs Not Used: Nelson, Custodio, Anderson Polga, Rui Jorge.
CSKA Moscow: Akinfeev, Alexei Berezutsky, Ignashevich, Zhirkov, Vasili Berezutsky, Odiah, Aldonin (Gusev 86), Rahimic, Daniel Carvalho (Semberas 82), Olic (Krasic 67), Vagner Love.
Subs Not Used: Mandrykin, Salougin, Laizans, Ferreyra.
