CSKA Moscow became the first Russian team ever to win the UEFA Cup trophy, courtesy of a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Sporting Lisbon in the final on Wednesday at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. Aleksei Berezoutski, Yuri Zhirkov and Vagner Love all scored, while Carvalho recorded three assists for CSKA, which entered the UEFA Cup following a third-place finish in its Champions League group. It became the second straight team to capture the UEFA Cup trophy, using this route. Valencia did the same last season. "I can say only one thing, my players are heroes," said CSKA coach Valeriy Gazzaev. "They have done the impossible. From the very first days in the UEFA Cup they confidently and purposefully went on to this victory. I'd like to thank and congratulate all the Russians who supported us and believed in us. This is a symbolic victory. Now every child in Russian youth football schools will now what to work for and what to dream about and will know those dreams can become true. This is a landmark victory for Russian football." Rogerio scored the sole goal for Sporting Lisbon, which failed to take advantage of playing this season's UEFA Cup final at home. It was only a coincidence that the match was in Lisbon. "We're all frustrated because we did everything we could in order to win," said Sporting coach Jose Peseiro. "I think the result is unfair. We controlled the match and CSKA were just very lucky on the counterattack. We did not have any luck but I'm proud of my players and now we have to look forward." CSKA was outplayed the entire first half and trailed 1-0 at the intermission. However, the game quickly turned in its favor with three goals within an 18- minute span in the second half. In the 57th minute, Berezoutski netted the equalizer with his first goal of the tournament. The youngster broke free just a few yards from the goal line and headed a Carvalho free-kick from the corner into the top of the net. Then Zhirkov gave CSKA a 2-1 edge in the 65th minute on Carvalho's second assist of the match. Carvalho fed a pass through the defense to the top of the box to Zhirkov, who made a couple dribbles and shot it past Ricardo down low on a one-on-one situation. The third goal came in the 75th minute in transition and helped seal the victory. In fact, it looked like Sporting Lisbon had knotted the game at 2-2, but Rogerio hit the post from one yard out and his team stood there in shock. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev took advantage of the surprised Sporting squad by quickly throwing the ball up-field. On the counter attack, Carvalho tallied his third helper of the game by sliding the ball to Love. Love received the pass from 12 yards out, tapped it around the challenging goalkeeper and blasted it into a wide open net from three yards away. Sporting has not won a European competition since capturing the Cup Winners' Cup in 1964. As for CSKA Moscow, it was only its 19th ever UEFA Cup match, nine of which have occurred in the current season. Rogerio broke a scoreless game in the 28th minute to put the home team on top. The Brazilian defender, who moved up to play in the midfield, found the back of the net on a shot from 18 yards out, which beat Akinfeev high. "I'd prefer not to score and win this match instead," said Rogerio. "We played at home and we're very sad because our expectations were not fulfilled, and nor were the hopes of our fans. We had a great opportunity to win the UEFA Cup but we could not do it." CSKA Moscow's best scoring chance in the first half came right before the intermission when Love was wide open in the middle of the box, but kicked it wide. CSKA remained unbeaten in its third match in Portugal during a lengthy European campaign. Prior to this one, against Benfica and FC Porto, CSKA earned a draw.