Oleg Salenko believes Zenit St Petersburg will prove too strong for Rangers in next week's UEFA Cup Final. Salenko, a native of St Petersburg, spent six unsuccessful months at Ibrox in 1995, before moving to Istanbulspor in Turkey as part of a swap deal that brought Peter van Vossen to Glasgow in return.

Zenit reached the final by defeating Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-final and Salenko believes that result makes the Russians favourites to lift the trophy in the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night.

Rangers' dismissal of Fiorentina in the other semi-final, according to Salenko, also plays into Zenit's hands. "Zenit are favourites," he said. "After all, the Russians have knocked out the main favourites of the competition, Bayern. And how. By the way, I am convinced that Glasgow Rangers are a more comfortable opponent for the St Petersburgers than the Italians Fiorentina with their traditionally strong defence.

"Rangers are a more open team, which traditionally puts an emphasis on attacking moves. When I played for Rangers they liked to attack more than to defend. That plays into Zenit's hands."

Salenko insisted he was not that surprised to see his hometown club make it all the way to their first European final. He added: "I have been saying for weeks that Zenit would play in the final. It was harder for St Petersburgers to get through the first stages of the competition. Of course, when it turned out that Dick Advocaat's men would have to play Bayern in the semis there was a big, bold question mark over their prospects.

"However, having held out in the first half in Munich, after the break the Russian champions showed that their hosts could not stand up to their passing game. And in the second leg the early goal from Pavel Pogrebnyak played an important role."

Salenko's six months in Glasgow did not pass entirely without incident despite a lack of success on the pitch. The Russian international, who earned the Golden Boot at the 1994 World Cup on the back of scoring five goals in one match against Cameroon, fell victim to some high jinks instigated by Paul Gascoigne.

The mercurial Englishman covered Salenko in foam from a fire extinguisher and the Russian, not seeing the funny side, almost took his revenge with his fists. The pair made up over a few drinks later that night on the players' Christmas night out.

Salenko recalled: "Paul was playing a joke. At first I didn't understand and went for a fight. There developed a bit of a to-do. That evening in the bar Gascoigne and I sat at the same table, had a drink and made up. I remember we were in fancy dress for Christmas.

I was a monkey, Gascoigne was a monk..."