Dick Advocaat's decision to shelve his early retirement plans may have been made easier by the truck-load of roubles offered by Zenit St Petersburg but the Dutchman's decision has been vindicated by what he considers a "perfect" UEFA Cup final.

The bulk of Advocaat's four-year stretch at Ibrox is still fondly remembered for its flowing football and flamboyant - and ultimately troublesome - transfer policy. On May 14, at the City of Manchester Stadium, he will be reunited with a club he still calls his own. The formulae for success adopted by Zenit and Rangers could hardly be more contrasting, but as Walter Smith ponders an unprecedented quadruple, he received the highest praise from a contemporary who has also become part of the Rangers family.

"To still be involved in four prizes is a remarkable achievement," Advocaat told The Herald. "It has never happened before and might never happen again, so I am delighted for my friends at Rangers, Sir David Murray and Walter - but I still want to beat them."

Zenit, bankrolled by the mighty Gazprom oil and gas company that also owns a sizeable chunk of Schalke 04, have spent handsomely in pursuit of success. Rangers, and Smith, have been paupers by comparison, founding their success on the gnarly experience of David Weir and Christian Dailly, with a sprinkling of modest and astute expenditure in Carlos Cuellar; a revelatory £2m buy from unfashionable Osasuna.

"When they first asked me to come out here, I expected them to invest a lot and they have done so," said Advocaat, who apparently doubled his earnings to stay on for a second season despite a verbal agreement to become Australia's national coach. "I still think we need more investment to fulfil our potential but the way Rangers have progressed makes Walter's achievement even better because he has not had much money at all to spend. He deserves even more compliments for doing that."

When reminded that he and Smith could have been enjoying the relative tranquillity of international football, and not preparing for a UEFA Cup final, Advocaat revealed the extent of his ongoing affection for Rangers. The combustible character watched the game live on television from his home in old Leningrad and was impressed, and no little envious, by Smith's new-found composure amid a late Fiorentina onslaught and the lottery of a penalty shootout.

"It is the kind of game that can give a manager a heart attack," he said.

"I still got caught up in the emotion of it because it is still my club but it was not a good game for a manager to watch.

"It will be good to see my old friends again and, at 60, to manage a team in a European final, against Rangers, is perfect. In a way it is full circle for me. Rangers are still my club, that is the way I felt about them since I first went over, and it will add something special to the occasion."

Zenit's emphatic 4-0 thrashing of Bayern Munich in St Petersburg, and 5-1 aggregate win, reverberated across Europe on Wednesday night. By comparison, Rangers have received scant praise from a wider European audience for the pragmatic, functional strategy that has sustained them against the technical superiors of Panathinaikos, Sporting Lisbon, Werder Bremen and Fiorentina. Advocaat has defended Smith's safety-first approach.

"I know there has been criticism of the way Rangers have made it to the final - that they play negative football - but Walter, like me, is too big to think or worry about what anyone else thinks," said Advocaat sternly. "It doesn't matter. They will play the same way again, they will be very organised defensively and will try to steal a goal. It will be difficult to play against.

"The beauty of Walter's team this time around is that there are no real stars.

The workrate is fantastic and brings the whole team together. To be honest, I think Bayern underestimated us, they thought 1-1 from the first leg would be enough for them to do it. The key for us was the scoring sequence. Every goal was at the perfect moment for us, we scored before half time, after half time and near the end."

Advocaat reserved special praise for his protege, Barry Ferguson. The Rangers captain had Rangers' first penalty kick saved by a cat-like Sebastien Frey but, at 30, performed with a maturity and class that prompted Advocaat to make him the on-field leader at Lorenzo Amoruso's expense. "Barry, for me, is still the key man in the Rangers team and I am delighted that he can look forward to such an occasion but Weir and Cuellar have defended very well and have done a great job."

Sentimentality will be shelved when Advocaat's red army descend on Manchester to begin their preparations. He will be afforded a warm reception from the Rangers support he believes give Rangers an early psychological advantage.

"It will be a close game but I know what it means to the Rangers fans and, in that respect, with Manchester so close, Rangers will have an advantage because their fans will travel in their thousands," he said. "It will create a great atmosphere."

It beats retirement.