They did have investment, Gazprom took charge a couple of years earlier. However the team was still not too different from previous years, with attempts at bigger signings and building a deeper squad yet to start. Bringing in a good manager in Advocaat was the main purchase at the time.
The team that won the uefa cup was quite typical of what you got with a top 4 Russian team in that era. A big gap between 3-6 players that could play at a high level and the rest nondescript role players or outright liabilities. Good when in form, but cold fall apart quickly if one or two of the stronger players isn't on their game.
Strengths were the midfield with Anatoliy Tymoschuk as Defensive Mid. He was excellent in most things defensively, but not skilled on the ball. Went on to be a good squad player/sometime starter at Bayern, though from what i saw they mostly used him at CB.
Igor Denisov as younger partner alongside him was similar, though imo had more potential to develop into a more complete centre midfielder. He was a troublemaker and stereotypical "difficult character" at every side he played for and never fully developed his game or moved outside rpl. The kind of player that could look like he should be playing at a much higher level one season then be average most of the next.
Konstantin Zyryanov dictating things and Arshavin drifting about between the lines provided the creativity. Zyryanov was a very technical player with strong organisational abilities and passing skills. One of the last players that was obviously from the ussr midfield school and that Russia has really struggled to produce once the developmental burden became entirely on Putin-era football coaching.
Igor Anyukov was a very good right-back, especially in providing a consistent extra passing option in dangerous areas.
Malofeev was a decent keeper.
Pogrebnyak as lone forward did have a great tournament, it was his career high point. He was never a player i thought had much talent however and was also very injury prone. Roman Shirokov was also around, but he only became a good player when he moved into midfield. He was a defender at this point for some reason and a liability other than being able to spray some excellent passes about.
The team was actually quite bad in the early group stage part of the tournament and were lucky to get through. Those games took part towards the end of the 2007 season when they were fighting for a first Russian league win and they didn't have the squad depth for focusing on the European games at such a time. Then they hit form for the knockout stages which took part during the next russian league season. A season they eventually struggled in and finished 5th despite adding Danny. They got a tough CL group with Juventus and Real Madrid and while most of the games were tight, they were obviously underdogs there especially in depth and experience.
It wasn't really until Spalleti came in and 2010 season that they threatened to pull away due to their financial advantage and possibly become a russian PSG with back to back league wins. FFP coming in, Putin's seizing crimea with the financial repercussions that followed and some not too competent running of the club stopped that before it really got going.
