Istanbul, May 21 (DPA) Shakhtar Donetsk made history Wednesday by becoming the first-ever Ukrainian side to win a European club competition as they beat German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen 2-1 after extra time in the UEFA Cup final played at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul.
Brazilian Luiz Adriano opened the scoring for Shakhtar in the 25th minute, but Naldo equalized for Bremen ten minutes later with a free-kick.
Jadson scored the winner for his side in the seventh minute of extra-time, ensuring Shakhtar become the last club to win the UEFA Cup, as the competition is being replaced by the Europa League from next season.
Watched by Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, Shakhtar's Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu sent his team into the game with a strong offensive side that included five Brazilians and played in a sort of 4-4-2 formation.
The South American influence soon showed, as a capacity 52,000 crowd 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 ten 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.
His Bremen counterpart Wiese denied Shakhtar a second first-half goal in the 41st minute when he pulled off a world-class save by diving to his right to palm away a powerful Mariusz Lewandowski shot.
Bremen, who were missing suspended influential playmaker Diego, striker Hugo Almeida, who was also suspended, as well as German international defender Per Mertesacker, continued to look out of sorts in the second half, as Shakhtar dominated proceedings.
The team from the Ukraine, however, failed to create any real chances.
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 Dario Srna.
Jadson gave Shakhtar the lead 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.
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