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Shakhtar Donetsk won the UEFA Cup final by defeating Werder Bremen by 2-1 after extra time on Wednesday (May 20). With this Shakhtar Donetsk became the first-ever Ukrainian side to win a European club competition. Brazilian Luiz Adriano opened the account for Shakhtar in the 25th minute but after ten minutes, Naldo equalized the score with a free kick. The winner of the final was decided in the extra time when Jadson scored for Shakhtar Donetsk in the seventh minute.
Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu included all five of his Brazilian players in an attack-minded starting side in a sort of 4-4-2 formation. The strategy was nearly successful as Shakhtar had the first chance of the game after two of their Brazilians combined well in the sixth minute. Jadson pushed the ball through to Luiz Adriano, but his shot went just past the upright. Werder Bremen was able to score the equalizer when Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov tried to catch a Naldo free-kick from well outside the area, only to see the ball slip over his hands into the goal.
When the scores were leveled, Shakhtar got another chance in 41st minute but the goalkeeper of Bremen, Wiese pulled off a world-class save by diving to his right to palm away a powerful Mariusz Lewandowski shot. Werder Bremen could not put up a good performance in the second half while Shakhtar kept on dominating and finally sealed the victory in the extra time. The UEFA Cup will become the Europa League from next season.
