The Little General marches into the media tent as if he owns it. It is, however, far too humble an abode for Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat.

At £2m a year, the Dutchman can afford somewhere more luxurious than a confection of canvas and steel tubing to park his posterior.

The UEFA Cup final comes with baggage for Zenit St Petersburg but Advocaat labours under none of it. He shrugs off all talk of racism, favouritism and the absence of his key striker with the casual vigour off a labrador emerging from a swim. The Dutchman has a focus. His eyes may be concentrated for the moment on the final in the City of Manchester Stadium. They will soon stray to linger enviously on a managerial position in the English Premier League.

Curiously, there may soon be one such vacancy about 50 yards from where Advocaat sat in conversation with the press yesterday. The most likely departure from St Petersburg to Manchester City is, however, Andrei Arshavin.

The Russian media yesterday were openly discussing the 25-year-old playmaker's £10m move to a club preparing the last rites for Sven-Goran Eriksson. It may explain the brusqueness of Advocaat's reply when asked about Arshavin: "He is a quality player, like so many we have. He is one of the 11 players with exceptional talent. Hopefully, he can show that tomorrow night."

The most serious issue stalking Zenit, however, is the charge of racism. Advocaat has been quoted as insisting "it would be impossible" to sign black players for the club because of the antipathy that would spark among the club's supporters. He denied saying this yesterday.

However, as UEFA handed out Unite Against Racism hats to the assembled journalists, an official had to stop this line of questioning after Advocaat had fielded three inquiries on the issue. Was he worried about fans abusing Rangers' black players? "No, not at all. There is no issue at Zenit," said Advocaat.

Did he know that Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister, was concerned at the prospect? "I think he must have a little bit more other concerns than this. This is a football match. It is not about colour."

There was a third query about the racism "problem", with Advocaat responding: "No problems, at all.

We don't think about that. It has become a little bit of an issue but I don't know why. If you see how many black players are playing in Russia, there is no problem at all. But it is an issue building up now, and I understand that, but it is not a problem."

Finally, a UEFA official stopped the questions after Advocaat said: "I don't talk about that any more. I want to speak about football."

The soccer insight, however, was understandably lacking in illumination. Advocaat and Walter Smith brought Steven Naismith, Allan McGregor, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Fernando Ricksen to the conference. The Rangers players are injured, Pogrebnyak is suspended and Ricksen may be surplus to requirements. Those who will contest the final were in their beds, recovering from training.

Ricksen mouthed platitudes about being "very happy to be in the final" and hoping "to give his best". Pogrebnyak supplied a moment of poignancy. Earlier in the season, he had dreamed of Zenit contesting the final in Manchester. Yesterday, he told the world he had slept in Manchester "with no dreams".

Advocaat shrugged off the absence of the Moscow-born forward. "With all respect, there are other players," he said. "I have very good players without Pavel."

He was also sanguine about the issue of Zenit being given a rest before the final, the prospect of a penalty shoot-out and the likelihood of an overwhelming Rangers support in the stadium.

Everything, he said, would be rendered irrelevant by the result, including his side's extended lay-off. "After the game, if we lose, they will say it worked against us. If we win, they will say: Great idea'."

Similarly, Advocaat suggested his team had been practising penalties purely for the benefit of the press, who would criticise him and his side if they did not. "I still think that you cannot practise penalties," he insisted. "If I make a penalty now I will score, but if I have to do it tomorrow night with so many people, with all the pressure, that is a totally different environment. We did it. But, hopefully, we don't need it tomorrow night."

He was dismissive about the 100,000 Rangers supporters said to be converging on Manchester. "They are not in the stadium. We have 115 million in Russia who support us. It is a big difference. Even the president, I heard."

When pressed on the likelihood that the Rangers' support would drown out that from St Petersburg, the Dutchman said without any obvious concern: "It can be an advantage." Advocaat's only moment of minor revelation was that the dynamic of the final is unlikely to change. Rangers will persevere with a system Advocaat described diplomatically as "very balanced". However, he expressed genuine admiration of Rangers' achievement under budget constraints that the Dutchman would not have recognised from his time at Ibrox.

"We have to worry about the team of Rangers," he said. "We have to keep an eye on every player of Rangers until the game is finished. Not, in particular, one or two players. It is a new team."

He added: "Everybody is trying to push Zenit into the favourites' role. No problem. I like that. I respect what Rangers did in the past against the teams they have beaten." Advocaat said that a side who had reached the UEFA Cup final, the Scottish Cup final and had won the CIS Insurance Cup and "hopefully" the Clydesdale Bank Premier League should command "full respect".

He is, however, unlikely to change his strategy for the final. "It will be a great match for both teams," he said. "And may the best team win. I don't become emotional because I am playing against a team where I was manager for four years."

He said of Rangers: "They have many players behind the ball but when they have the ball they come out with three or four players. We have to play a little clever."

There will be, at most, a tweak to the Zenit gameplan. The absence of Pogrebnyak will almost certainly bring Fatih Tekke into the main striker's role, with Alejandro Dominguez and Arshavin supporting in wide areas. Advocaat, who has the reputation as a managerial maverick, only indulges in dramatic interventions from the bench when his team falls behind. A first goal for Rangers could induce a bout of Advocaat recklessness.

However, he exuded yesterday a confidence in his strategy, his team and the likelihood of victory. Advocaat will give his players the line-up this morning at training. "Then we will do the team tactics," he said. "We will not change them much. Why do we have to change things that are going well?" The team will then return to their hotel to rest before the kick-off at 7.45pm. What lies beyond that is a mystery, both in terms of the result and where Advocaat will subsequently ply his increasingly lucrative trade.