The last UEFA Cup final will be a clash of German brawn and Ukrainian technique, Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu said ahead of its clash with Werder Bremen in Istanbul today.
"We'll watch a game performed in two very different styles. Bremen are an attacking side with very good physique. They have some very strong athletes on the team," he said.
"Shakhtar Donetsk's style is based on the good technique of our players and we will try and control the game," the Romanian said yesterday.
Shakhtar, which has reached its first European final, has no injury worries but will be without suspended midfielder Tomas Huebschman.
By contrast Bremen, Cup Winners' Cup winner in 1992, has been hit with a host of suspension and injury problems.
Playmaker Diego is banned but would have probably missed the final anyway having torn his thigh muscle in training. Naldo faces a race to be fit after a groin injury.
"I would like to have seen how the Brazilian players would have faced each other," said Lucescu, whose squad features five Brazilians.
Shakhtar, which beat Barcelona 3-2 at the Nou Camp in the Champions League last December, has helped boost Ukrainian football, he added, building on the country's profile before it co-hosts Euro 2012 with Poland.
This will be the 38th and last UEFA Cup final, having been first contested in 1971-72 after replacing the Fairs Cup. From next season UEFA's second-tier competition becomes the Europa League, a rebranded and expanded affair that European soccer's governing body hopes will give it renewed impetus.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily May 20, 2009)
