By Barry Whelan May 20, 2009, 23:38 GMT
Istanbul - Shakhtar Donetsk won their first European title by beating German side Werder Bremen 2-1 after extra time in the UEFA Cup final Wednesday in Istanbul's Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.
Brazilian Luiz Adriano opened the scoring for the Ukrainian side in the 25th minute, but Naldo equalized for Bremen 10 minutes later with a free-kick.
Jadson scored the winner for his side in the seventh minute of extra-time, making Shakhtar the first Ukrainian side since the breakup of the Soviet Union to win a European trophy.
Although Dynamo Kiev had enjoyed success in the European Cup Winners' Cup, no Ukrainian side had won the UEFA Cup, which will be revamped as the Europa League from next season.
'We created the better chances and deserved to win,' Shakhtar's Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu said.
'It was important for us not to allow Bremen to play their game and get the ball into our penalty area, and I think we succeeded. We exercised control and created a lot of chances in the first half but unfortunately only scored once.'
Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said: 'We have to accept that we lost, and we congratulate Shakhtar. We did not find our game in the match.'
Watched by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Lucescu sent his team into the game with a strong offensive side that included five Brazilians.
The South American influence soon showed, as a crowd of 37,357 - well below the capacity of some 52,000 - saw Shakhtar take control of the match.
They 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.
The striker did better in the 28th minute after a defence- splitting pass from Razvan Rat found him in space, and after running into the area the 22-year-old chipped the ball over Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese.
Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov gifted Bremen an equalizer 10 minutes from the break when he tried to catch a Naldo free-kick from well outside the area, only to see the ball slip over his hands and into the goal.
Wiese denied Shakhtar a second first-half goal in the 41st minute when he pulled off a world-class save, diving to his right to palm away a powerful Mariusz Lewandowski shot.
Bremen, who were missing suspended influential playmaker Diego, suspended striker Hugo Almeida, as well as German international defender Per Mertesacker, continued to look out of sorts in the second half, as Shakhtar dominated proceedings.
Somewhat against the run of play, Bremen's Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro could have given his side the lead in the 78th minute, but this time Pyatov was at his guard as he dived low to prevent the header from crossing the line.
Pizarro had the ball in the back of the net two minutes from the end, but Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo correctly ruled that midfielder Mesut Ozil was offside when he played the ball to the Peruvian.
The Ukrainian could have scored a second three minutes into extra time, as Wiese was again called upon to make an outstanding save from captain Dario Srna.
Jadson found the winner for Shakhtar in the seventh minute of extra time as he was set up by an unmarked Srna, and his shot from close range slipped in under Wiese.
Bremen nearly pulled level just a minute later as Pizarro's shot was cleared off the line. The Peruvian had the ball in the back of the net in the last minute of extra time, but again Cantalejo did not give it as Pizarro had fouled his opponent.
Bremen's Germany midfielder Torsten Frings said that the side now needed to recuperate for the German Cup final in 10 days in Berlin against Bayer Leverkusen.
'We are obviously very disappointed. We gave everything, but did not look good when they scored,' he said. 'Donetsk made the game without having any real chances.'
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