The 2009 UEFA Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, the 38th season of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. It was also the last final to be held under the UEFA Cup name, as the competition was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League from the 2009–10 season. The final was contested by Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen, with Shakhtar winning the match 2–1 after extra time. All three goalscorers in the game were Brazilians; lone striker Luiz Adriano opened the scoring for Shakhtar midway through the first half, before Naldo equalised from a free kick ten minutes later. The second half was goalless and the match went to extra time; after only seven minutes, Jádson scored for Shakhtar to secure the club's first major European trophy.
The match was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium – home ground of Fenerbahçe – in Istanbul, Turkey, on 20 May 2009. It was the second European football final to be held in Turkey, after the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, which was held in another Istanbul venue, the Atatürk Olympic Stadium. It was also the first European football final to be held outside the geographical Europe, as Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium lies across the Bosphorus from the city centre, and hence, in geographical Asia.
Former Fenerbahçe player Can Bartu was appointed as ambassador of the final.
Background The 2009 UEFA Cup final marked the first meeting between Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen, although Shakhtar had previously played nine matches against German sides (won 4, lost 3), while Werder had played just four matches against Ukrainian teams (won 2, lost 1). Both teams were playing in their first UEFA Cup final, and Shakhtar were playing in their first final in any of the three major UEFA competitions; Werder Bremen beat Monaco 2–0 in the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup Final.
Venue The 2009 UEFA Cup final also marked the first time that the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium had hosted a major European final, as well as being the first time that the UEFA Cup final had been held in Turkey; the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final was held at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium across the Bosporus from the Şükrü Saracoğlu. It is the only European final to not be played in Europe, as the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is technically in Asia.
Route to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). Shakhtar DonetskRound Werder BremenChampions LeagueOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legQualifying phaseOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg Dinamo Zagreb5–12–0 (H)3–1 (A)Third qualifying roundByeOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult Basel2–1 (A)Matchday 1 Anorthosis Famagusta0–0 (H) Barcelona1–2 (H)Matchday 2 Internazionale1–1 (A) Sporting CP0–1 (H)Matchday 3 Panathinaikos2–2 (A) Sporting CP0–1 (A)Matchday 4 Panathinaikos0–3 (H) Basel5–0 (H)Matchday 5 Anorthosis Famagusta2–2 (A) Barcelona3–2 (A)Matchday 6 Internazionale2–1 (H)Group C third placeFinal standingsGroup B third placeUEFA CupOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legKnockout stageOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg Tottenham Hotspur3–12–0 (H)1–1 (A)Round of 32 Milan3–3 (a)1–1 (H)2–2 (A) CSKA Moscow2–10–1 (A)2–0 (H)Round of 16 Saint-Étienne3–21–0 (H)2–2 (A) Marseille4–12–0 (H)2–1 (A)Quarter-finals Udinese6–43–1 (H)3–3 (A) Dynamo Kyiv3–21–1 (A)2–1 (H)Semi-finals Hamburger SV3–3 (a)0–1 (H)3–2 (A)
Shakhtar Donetsk As champions of the 2007–08 Vyshcha Liha, Shakhtar were awarded a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League. Here they were drawn against Croatian league winners Dinamo Zagreb. Shakhtar easily progressed over the two-legged tie with two victories and an aggregate score of 5–1. Shakhtar thus qualified for the Champions League group stage for the third season in a row.
Shakhtar were drawn in Group C with Barcelona, Sporting CP, and Basel. The group stage campaign started brightly for the Ukrainians, with a 2–1 over Basel in the Swiss city. In the second game, Shakhtar hosted Barcelona and the two sides were set to share the points at 1–1 until Lionel Messi scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time in the second half and the Catalan giants won 2–1. Two successive 1–0 defeats to Sporting CP, home and away, saw Shakhtar's hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds of the Champions League dashed. Shakhtar, however, were well positioned to claim third place, above Basel, and secure passage to the UEFA Cup knockout rounds if they took points from their last two games in the group stage. Shakhtar dismantled Basel 5–0 in Donetsk and famously defeated a youthful Barcelona side 3–2 at the Camp Nou, (Barcelona had already secured first place in the group before the final match was played and were resting players ahead of an El Clásico league game against Real Madrid), thus Shakhtar finished the group stage with nine points in third place, eight points clear of Basel and just three points behind second placed Sporting CP.
In the Round of 32 in the UEFA Cup, Shakhtar were paired with English side Tottenham Hotspur. With the first leg at the RSK Olimpiyskyi Stadium, Shakhtar were frustrated by their inability to turn their dominance over Tottenham into goals, until substitute Yevhen Seleznyov scored on his first touch, with a header in the 79th minute. Jádson doubled Shakhtar's lead just two minutes later, after playing a one-two with Willian. Taking with them a 2–0 aggregate lead to London, Shakhtar were favoured to progress to the Round of 16, but a goal from Tottenham's Giovani dos Santos in the 55th minute gave the English side a glimmer of hope. Fernandinho answered with a goal, however, in the 86th minute for Shakhtar, which put Shakhtar into the next round with a 3–1 aggregate victory.
The Round of 16 saw old Soviet League rivals CSKA Moscow and Shakhtar matched against each other, with the first leg in Moscow. Vágner Love scored a penalty and CSKA won the first leg 1–0. In the return leg in Donetsk, Fernandinho converted a penalty in the 54th minute and evened the aggregate scoreline to 1–1. In the 70th minute, 2004–05 UEFA Cup winners CSKA were left stunned when goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, under pressure from Oleksandr Kucher, could only clear a looping cross from Fernandinho just a few meters ahead of him, where Luiz Adriano was perfectly positioned to hit it first time and score. Shakhtar won the match 2–0, and on aggregate 2–1, progressing to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.
Shakhtar were drawn against French club Marseille in the quarter-finals. Goals from Tomáš Hübschman and Jádson gave Shakhtar a 2–0 win in the RSK Olimpiyskyi Stadium. In the return leg in Marseille, Shakhtar got an important away goal in the 30th minute through a close-range Fernandinho strike, where he blasted it past the Marseille goalkeeper from a very tight angle, after Ilsinho had played him through. Although Hatem Ben Arfa levelled the score at 1–1 in the 43rd minute, Marseille never looked liked getting the three goals that was required of them in order to progress, and in the 90th minute, adding to Marseille's wounds, Luiz Adriano scored to make it 2–1 and thus 4–1 on aggregate. Shakhtar had progressed to a European cup competition semi-final for the first time in their history with this victory.
In the semi-finals, Shakhtar could have been drawn against German clubs Hamburger SV or Werder Bremen, but instead a German–Ukrainian final was guaranteed when Hamburg and Werder Bremen were paired with each other, while Shakhtar were drawn with fellow Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv. Dynamo and Shakhtar have been fierce rivals since the Ukrainian Premier League's formation in 1991 as they have often battled each other for 1st place in the league. The draw of Dynamo-Shakhtar was met with great excitement by the Ukrainian public, who eagerly anticipated the showdown. Both stadiums were easily sold out for this fixture. Dynamo hosted the first leg in Kyiv, and it got off to a bad start for Shakhtar when Dmytro Chyhrynskyi scored an own goal to give Dynamo the lead 1–0. The match was tense and thus not many clear cut chances to score were made, but Dynamo were clearly on top and a Shakhtar equaliser was looking unlikely until the 68th minute when substitute Willian crossed and Fernandinho bundled it into the goal to level the score at 1–1. Dynamo's Olexandr Aliyev had a chance to give the Kyiv side the lead again in the 78th minute, but Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov saved well and the game ended 1–1. Shakhtar took their crucial away goal to Donetsk and things were looking very rosy when Jadson scored in the 17th minute in the return leg to put the aggregate scoreline at 2–1. In the 37th minute, Dynamo correctly had a goal ruled offsides. Shortly after the start of the second half, Ismaël Bangoura equalised after a defensive mix-up allowed for Bangoura to have a clear shot on goal, which he finished well. With the aggregate at 2–2 and heading for extra time and potentially a penalty shootout, a moment of brilliance in the 89th minute from Ilsinho sent Shakhtar to Istanbul. After collecting a long pass on the right-wing, Ilsinho cut in towards goal, shifted his way past three Dynamo defenders and coolly placed the ball where the Dynamo keeper had no chance. The match finished 2–1 and Shakhtar won 3–2 on aggregate and thus became the first ever Ukrainian side to reach a UEFA Cup Final.
Werder Bremen Werder finished the 2007–08 Bundesliga in second place and received a spot in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage as a result. They were matched up against Inter Milan, Panathinaikos, and Anorthosis Famagusta in Group B. The Champions League campaign got off to a poor start for Werder when the first tie of the round against heavy underdog Cypriot side Anorthosis ended in a 0–0 draw in Bremen. Werder rebounded in the second match with a 1–1 draw in Milan against Internazionale, thanks to a Claudio Pizarro equaliser in the 62nd minute. An entertaining 2–2 draw in Athens against Panathinaikos followed, before disaster struck in the return leg in Bremen, where Panathinaikos defeated their German hosts by a score of 3–0. Werder looked as though they were heading for a fourth-place finish in the group when in the next game in Nicosia, Anorthosis were leading 2–0 after 72 minutes, but a trip on Aaron Hunt in the penalty area allowed for Diego to score a penalty kick to make the score 2–1. Hugo Almeida rescued a point for Werder in the 87th minute, when he scored after a cross from Mesut Özil was helped on by Duško Tošić. Needing a win at home against the group favourites Internazionale and an Anorthosis loss to Panathinaikos in order to secure third place and thus progression to the UEFA Cup knockout rounds, Werder were staring elimination from European cup competition in the face. Werder dominated the match against the Italians and were rewarded for their determination to score in the 63rd minute when Pizarro scored on the rebound from a spilled shot by Özil. After Werder established their lead, further good news made its way to the Weserstadion, where news of a Panathinaikos goal against Anorthosis lifted spirits. Markus Rosenberg extended Werder's lead in the 81st minute, and although Internazionale pulled a goal back through an 88th minute Zlatan Ibrahimović strike, Werder came out deserved winners 2–1. Panathinaikos held on to their 1–0 lead against Anorthosis and after both games had finished, Werder secured third place and a spot in the UEFA Cup knockout rounds.