Zenit St Petersburg thrashed pre-tournament favourites Bayern Munich 4-0 at the Petrovsky Stadium in Petersburg to advance to the UEFA Cup final.

Zenit took a 2-0 lead into half-time after goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Konstantin Zyryanov, with Viktor Fayzulin's header after eight minutes of the second half securing the Russians' progress to their first ever European final.

Pogrebnyak capped the victory with a composed finish from Alejandro Dominguez's cross 17 minutes from time to seal a resounding and humiliating 5-1 aggregate victory over the runaway Bundesliga leaders.

The visitors nearly made a dream start inside two minutes when Marcell Jansen's cross from the left was headed into the air by Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose's volley was cleared off the line by Roman Shirokov, but just two minutes later Zenit - who were missing five first-team players through injury and suspension - took the lead.

Pogrebnyak won a free-kick 25 yards from goal after a foul by Lucio, and it was he who stepped up to crack in a fierce left-footed shot that zipped around the wall and flew past a statuesque Oliver Kahn.

The slenderness of their lead did not prevent Zenit from throwing men forward, and marauding right-back Aleksandr Anyukov nearly increased their advantage when his low shot was blocked at the near post by Kahn after a cute pass from Dominguez.

Toni and Martin Demichelis went close with headers at the other end as Bayern threatened an equaliser, but Zenit stood firm and increased their advantage with a beautifully taken goal five minutes before the break.

Dominguez played the ball forward to Zyryanov, and he slipped away from Ze Roberto on the edge of the area before firing a right-footed effort across Kahn and inside the left-hand post.

Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld introduced German international striker Lukas Podolski at half-time, and five minutes into the second half his pass released Toni for a powerful shot that Vyacheslav Malafeev turned over the crossbar.

Bastian Schweinsteiger then tested Malafeev with a strong shot from the edge of the box, but within a minute the tie was over as Anyukov scampered down the Zenit right and bent in a cross that Fayzulin headed past Kahn from eight yards.

Dominguez then turned provider for a second time with a pull-back from the right that was expertly placed home by Pogrebnyak, who then provided the home side with their only disappointment of the evening when he picked up a booking that rules him out of the final in Manchester on May 14.

Tom Williams / Eurosport