Former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat steered Zenit St Petersburg into their first-ever European final in emphatic fashion as they inflicted a humiliating defeat on Bayern Munich.
After holding the German outfit to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final at the Allianz Arena last week, Zenit hit four goals without reply in Russia.
First-half goals from Konstantin Zyryanov and Pavel Pogrebnyak set Advocaat's men on their way to the final at the City of Manchester Stadium on May 14.
Viktor Faitzulin added a third goal 11 minutes after the restart while Pogrebnyak's second of the night after 73 minutes ensured Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's final European campaign before taking up the reins of the Swiss national team ended on a sour note.
The night ended badly for two-goal hero Pogrebnyak, however, after he received a yellow card for an innocuous aerial challenge with Lucio which means the tournament's top scorer, with 11 goals, will not feature in the final.
Bayern almost made a dream start when the hosts were forced to clear off their line inside the first 90 seconds.
Miroslav Klose had the chance, lofting the ball over Zenit goalkeeper Viacheslav Malafeev only to see a defender hook the ball clear of danger.
Zenit, playing without suspended trio Andrei Arshavin, Radek Sirl and Fernando Ricksen, survived that scare to take the lead less than three minutes later.
A free-kick 25 yards out was left to Pogrebnyak, who fired home down the middle of the goal when the wall broke in front of the unsighted Oliver Kahn.
Bayern's Franck Ribery created an opening after 19 minutes, turning his marker and firing in a shot from 25 yards that Malafeev gathered at the second attempt.
Two minutes later the hosts almost snuck in for their second when Aleksandr Aniukov broke into the box down the right channel but saw his shot kept out by the right boot of Kahn.
Luca Toni, Bayern's hero in the last round against Getafe, spurned a glorious chance to level after 26 minutes when he headed over from Ribery's centre.
And the Italian's miss took on added significance 13 minutes later as Zenit went two goals ahead.
Alejandro Dominguez passed the ball to Zyrianov, who sent Bayern's Martin Demichelis the wrong way with a delightful body feint before surging into the box and finishing with a lofted shot into the left corner.
Bayern might have made more of a game of it in the second half had Toni found the back of the net rather than the fists of Malafeev with a powerful rising shot, but the result was put beyond doubt after 56 minutes.
A brisk Zenit passing move resulted in Aleksandr Aniukov being set free in space down the right channel, and his cross was met with a thundering header by Faitzulin which went straight down the middle of Kahn's goal.
Bastian Schweinsteiger forced a save from the home goalkeeper after 70 minutes and Lukas Podolski hit the follow-up wide as Bayern's last chance to mount a fightback went begging.
Three minutes later Alejandro Dominguez centred low for Pogrebnyak to score with a controlled side-footed finish from 18 yards which wrongfooted Kahn and set the seal on a famous win for the Russian champions.
