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Friday May 22, 2009

Brazilians star in Shakhtar Donetsk’s UEFA Cup triumph

ISTANBUL: Europe’s last UEFA Cup final had Brazil stamped all over it, but it was Shakhtar Donetsk’s skilful imports from the South American footballing power celebrating victory over Werder Bremen on Wednesday.

All three goals were scored by Bra­zi­lians as Shakhtar prevailed 2-1 over the German club in extra time to clinch Ukraine’s first European trophy as an independent nation.

Luiz Adriano’s and Jadson’s goals were offset only by Naldo, the Werder defender nicknamed The Beast.

“I am very happy for my young Brazilian players because maybe now people will know them and hopefully (national coach) Dunga has seen them,” Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said. “Half of our team was Brazilian and they are all younger than 25, but I trust in them.

Miserable night:The Werder Bremen players react after losing to Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday.-AP

“The team is very young and I hope no young players leave this team because we have bigger objectives. We want to do well in the Champions League now.”

Luiz Adriano, one of Shakhtar’s four-pronged Brazilian attacking unit, opened the scoring after 25 minutes by lifting the ball over goalkeeper Tim Wiese. Samba flair oozed through the Ukrainian champions, but they lacked brawn.

That was provided by Naldo in the Werder defence, which proved to be a muscular and stubborn barrier to his opposing countrymen.

The Beast supplied the equaliser 10 minutes after Luiz Adriano’s goal, unleashing a free-kick that Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov pushed into his own goal.

Little was getting past Naldo until his own goalkeeper’s own flap, with Jadson shooting through the arms of Wiese in the seventh minute of extra time. At the final whistle, Naldo was in tears on the pitch as his compatriots in orange shirts — who also included Fernandinho, Ilsinho and Willian — celebrated.

The victory was a vindication of Lucescu’s policy of luring Brazilian youngsters to add flair to his emerging side. All five started in a team featuring just three Ukrainians for the biggest game at the club since Ukraine gained independence in 1991 with the break-up of the Soviet Union.

“My philosophy is to build a team, to educate players and to try and bring up young players — this is much bigger than all the trophies I can win personally,” Lucescu said.

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was meant to break off from his state visit to Turkey to watch in Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, but was not seen in the stands.

The victory would have been bittersweet for Lula since he had appealed to FIFA president Sepp Blatter this year to stop the exodus of Brazilian players to Europe as it affected the quality of the domestic leagues.

Back in Brazil, the match was eagerly anticipated in the local media and was shown live on television.

While next week’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United is a more illustrious match, Europe’s number two competition had the greater home interest.

It was a different picture in Europe and the stadium as the UEFA Cup bowed out with a whimper after 38 years, before another rebranding as the Europa League to revitalise its appeal.

There were swathes of empty seats as the finalists struggled to sell their allocation and tickets couldn’t even be given away to Turkish football fans. — AP

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