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The 38th and last edition of the UEFA Cup brings together FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen for the final in Istanbul, with the former looking for a first European trophy and the latter their second following their triumph in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

• Shakhtar are aiming to become the first Ukrainian side to win the UEFA Cup. Should Bremen triumph, it would be a seventh success for German clubs, which would make the Bundesliga the second most successful league in UEFA Cup terms behind Serie A, who have provided nine winning teams.
• Not only are Shakhtar bidding for their first continental title, they are also playing in their first major European final. Prior to this season, their most substantial UEFA Cup achievements were in reaching the last 16 on three occasions, most recently losing out to eventual winners Sevilla FC in 2005/06.
• Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf was a member of the team which beat AS Monaco FC 2-0 to lift the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, the club’s only final in one of the three major European competitions. They have reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals on three previous occasions (1987/88, 1989/90 and 2006/07), although this is the first time they have managed to get to the final.
• Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu was a UEFA Super Cup winner in 2000 while in charge of Galatasaray A? and knows all about Fenerbahçe SK’s ?ükrü Saraçoglu Stadium from his time as coach of Istanbul rivals Galatasaray and Be?ikta? JK.
Shakhtar’s record against German clubs: P9 W4 D2 L3 F10 A10
Bremen’s record against Ukrainian clubs: P4 W2 D1 L1 F14 A6
• The two finalists and their two coaches have never met in UEFA club competition.
• Shakhtar first came up against German opponents in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup first round, winning 3-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away against Berliner FC Dynamo from the former East Germany.
• They first faced opposition from the old West Germany in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup first round, winning 1-0 at home against Eintracht Frankfurt but losing 3-0 away.
• In total Shakhtar have played four two-legged ties against German opponents, winning two and losing two.
• In 2005/06, they met VfB Stuttgart in the UEFA Cup group stage, earning an impressive 2-0 win in Germany.
• Shakhtar are unbeaten in their last three games against German sides, all under Lucescu’s leadership. The success at Stuttgart followed a meeting with FC Schalke 04 in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup Round of 32 which Shakhtar won 2-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 home draw and 1-0 away success.
• During his time as coach of Romania, Lucescu’s side lost 2-1 against both West Germany and East Germany, the former game at the 1984 UEFA European Championship and the latter in August 1984.
• As a striker for FC Dinamo 1948 Bucure?ti, Lucescu also played in a two-legged 1974/75 UEFA Cup tie against 1. FC Köln, with his side losing 3-2 in Cologne after a 1-1 draw in Romania.
• Bremen first met Ukrainian opponents in the first round of the 1985/86 UEFA Cup, losing 2-1 away against FC Chornomorets Odesa and winning 3-2 at home to bow out on away goals. Schaaf was in the starting lineup in both legs.
• With Schaaf installed as coach, Bremen’s second taste of Ukrainian opposition came against Shakhtar’s city rivals FC Metalurh Donetsk in the first round of the 2002/03 UEFA Cup, drawing 2-2 in Ukraine before an emphatic 8-0 victory in the return fixture.

Disciplinary information
Shakhtar: Olexandr Kucher returns from suspension but Tomáš Hübschmann misses the final following a booking in the semi-final second leg.
Bremen: Diego and Hugo Almeida are serving one-match bans.

Penalty shoot-out record
Shakhtar: Shakhtar were beaten 4-1 on penalties at Club Brugge KV following a 2-2 aggregate draw in the third qualifying round of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League.
Bremen: Bremen have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

Istanbul connections
• Both Shakhtar and Bremen are playing at the ?ükrü Saraçoglu Stadium for the first time in competitive fixtures. Shakhtar lost 2-1 in a friendly against Fenerbahçe at the stadium on 23 July 2008, with Brandão scoring their only goal (84) after Semih ?entürk (46) and Daniel Güiza (57) had put the home side ahead.
• Bremen have played in Istanbul once before, with Schaaf in the team as they earned a 0-0 draw at Galatasaray in the quarter-finals of the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup en route to winning the competition. Shakhtar have never played in Istanbul.
• Shakhtar’s Oleksandr Chyzhov has played at the stadium before having appeared in Ukraine’s 2-0 defeat against Turkey on 14 October 2007 in qualifying for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 championship. Goalkeeper Bohdan Shust was an unused substitute.
• Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese has appeared at the ?ükrü Saraçoglu Stadium too, featuring in the Germany side that drew 1-1 with Turkey in a play-off to reach the 2004 U21 finals on 18 November 2003.
• Bremen’s Jurica Vranješ has also played at the arena, coming on in the 90th minute of Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s 2-1 win at Fenerbahçe SK in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage on 23 October 2001.
• Lucescu famously coached both of Fenerbahçe’s local rivals to title success, winning the 2001/02 Süper Lig with Galatasaray and then guiding Be?ikta? to the championship the following season.
• During his time in Turkey, Lucescu played a total of five games at the ?ükrü Saraçoglu Stadium with his record reading W1 D1 L3. That sole victory was a 1-0 win for Be?ikta? on 2 February 2003.
• Bremen midfielder Mesut Özil was born in Gelsenkirchen to Turkish parents, although he has never before played in Turkey.
• Özil’s father Mustafa and mother Gülizar are both from Zonguldak in Turkey, though Mustafa was just two when he moved to Germany and is now a German citizen, as is his son – who made his senior international debut for Germany 78 minutes into a 1-0 friendly defeat against Norway on 11 February 2009.
• In a recent interview, Özil revealed that Fenerbahçe were his boyhood club, saying: “I am happy to be playing at the stadium of a team I supported as a child. I have lots of friends and family in Turkey who say they are going to be at the final. If I play I will be the only Turkish player on the pitch and I have no doubt that the Turkish fans will get behind me for what should be an entertaining game.”

Final pedigree
• This is the third UEFA Cup final featuring two teams who transferred into the competition through finishing third in their section in the UEFA Champions League, after 1999/00 (Galatasaray v Arsenal FC) and 2001/02 (Feyenoord v BV Borussia Dortmund).
• Bremen have won one major final, beating Monaco 2-0 in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final in Lisbon. They played FC Barcelona in the 1993 UEFA Super Cup as a result, going down 3-2 on aggregate – losing 2-1 at the Camp Nou and drawing 1-1 at home.
• Coach Lucescu aside, only three members of the Shakhtar squad have experience of a European final. Andriy Pyatov and Dmytro Chygrynskiy were in the starting lineup as Ukraine lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in the 2006 European U21 Championship, while Mykola Ischenko was an unused substitute.
• Bremen’s Vranješ was an unused substitute for Bayer 04 Leverkusen as they lost 2-1 to Real Madrid CF in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League final in Glasgow.
• Bremen’s Duško Toši? was part of the Serbia team who lost 4-1 to the Netherlands in the 2007 U21 final in Groningen.

Team information
• Schaaf is the longest serving coach currently operating in the Bundesliga, having joined Bremen in May 1999. Before that, he spent 17 years as a defender with the club, appearing in 262 Bundesliga games and scoring 13 goals.
• Bremen’s Serbian full-back Toši? came up against Shakhtar’s Pyatov and Chygrynskiy in the semi-finals of the 2006 European U21 Championship in Portugal, with Ukraine beating Serbia and Montenegro 5-4 on penalties after a goalless draw. Another Shakhtar player, Ischenko, was an unused substitute.
• Bremen midfielder Vranješ and Shakhtar captain Dario Srna were both members of the Croatia squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although the former has not been capped since October 2007.
• Bremen left-back Toši? and Shakhtar midfielder Igor Duljaj play together in the Serbia national team.

Match facts
FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Honours
• Domestic: 4 Ukrainian titles, 6 Ukrainian Cups, 4 USSR Cups
Trivia
• Founded in 1936 as FC Stakhanovets, the Donbass side took on their current name in 1946. Shakhtar’s name literally means ‘Miner’. Their nicknames, Hirnyky (the Pitmen) and Kroty (the Moles), also refer to their colliery roots.
• Shakhtar won four USSR Cups in the days of the Soviet Union and twice finished second in the league, in 1975 and 1979. In the latter season, Vitaliy Starukhin scored 26 goals and was named the Soviet Union’s Player of the Year.
• Famous Shakhtar youth academy products include former Manchester United FC player Andrei Kanchelskis, one-time Russia captain Viktor Onopko and Serhiy Rebrov, while Shakhtar old boy Anatoliy Konkov was a member of the USSR squad that came second at the 1972 UEFA European Championship.
Route to the final
• Ukrainian champions Shakhtar finished third in UEFA Champions League Group C to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-0 at home before drawing the return 1-1 in London. They lost 1-0 at PFC CSKA Moskva in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie but progressed after a 2-0 home success. The Pitmen faced French opposition in the quarter-finals, beating Olympique de Marseille 2-0 in Donetsk and 2-1 at the Stade Vélodrome. Then they ousted Ukrainian rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv in the semi-finals, drawing 1-1 in Kiev but winning 2-1 at home.
Latest domestic information
• Saturday 16 May: FC Zorya Luhansk 0-3 FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Seleznov 28 74, Willian 80)
Shakhtar guaranteed the runners-up spot in Ukraine with two matches remaining after a comfortable away success at Zorya despite fielding almost an entire second XI. Yevgen Seleznov sent the visitors on their way with a goal in either half, and Brazilian forward Willian sealed the win with a precise effort.
• Coach Lucescu said: “I’m happy with the players who haven’t had that much playing time in the league this season. It was clear the squad have made progress this year. We decided to leave some of our top players at home to give them extra rest and we’ll start to prepare for the final on Sunday.”
• Lucescu utilised his favourite 4-4-2 strategy in Luhansk with just Mykola Ischenko starting from the side that won against Dynamo in their semi-final second leg. Tomáš Hübschman, who is suspended for the UEFA Cup final, came off the bench in the second half.
• After a terrible start and a quiet autumn in the Ukrainian Premier League, Shakhtar finally spluttered into gear after the winter break, but not in time to defend their title, with Dynamo confirmed as champions with three games to go. Lucescu’s side avenged that defeat by beating Dynamo in the Ukrainian Cup semi-finals, as well as in the same stage of the UEFA Cup.
• Shakhtar meet FC Vorskla Poltava in the Ukrainian Cup final on 31 May.
• Having conceded just 15 goals all season, Shakhtar’s defence – marshalled by Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov – is the tightest in the Premier League, and they have conceded just twice in their last ten league games.
• Obdurate in defence, Shakhtar have been a little less effective going forward with just 45 goals in their 28 league games. Yevgen Seleznov is their top league scorer with seven goals.
• Having earlier announced that he would leave the club at the end of the current season, Lucescu has agreed to sign a new two-year contract at Shakhtar, with the club eager to reward his efforts in Europe.
Injury news
• Shakhtar have a fully fit squad to choose from.

Werder Bremen
Honours
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1991/92
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1998
• Domestic: 4 German titles, 5 German Cups.
Trivia
• Bremen have spent only one season outside the Bundesliga since it began in 1963/64. That solitary second-tier campaign came in 1980/81, with the team winning promotion straight back into the top flight.
• The club was founded in February 1899 as FV Werder, with ‘werder’ being an obscure German word for a river island, like the Peterswerder upon which the Weserstadion stands. They became Werder Bremen in January 1920 and two years later were the first German team to hire a professional coach.
• Bremen are famous for their European miracles on home soil, with at least four games being remembered for a ‘Wunder von der Weser’:-
- in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup they won 6-2 at home against FC Spartak Moskva after extra time, having lost the first leg 4-1.
- in the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs’ Cup they lost 3-0 at BFC Dynamo Berlin but prevailed with a 5-0 home success.
- In the 1993/94 campaign they came from 3-0 down in a UEFA Champions League group match against RSC Anderlecht to win 5-3.
- In the 1999/00 UEFA Cup third round they lost 3-0 at Olympique Lyonnais, but won 4-0 in the home leg.
Route to the final
• Bundesliga runners-up last season, Bremen earned their Round of 16 place by finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group B. They then overcame AC Milan on away goals in the Round of 32, drawing 1-1 at home and 2-2 at San Siro. They won 1-0 at home and drew 2-2 away against AS Saint-Etienne to make it to the quarter-finals, where they met Udinese Calcio. After winning the home leg 3-1, Schaaf’s men drew 3-3 in Italy. Finally, they beat north German rivals Hamburger SV on away goals in the semis, losing 1-0 at home but triumphing 3-2 in Hamburg.
Latest domestic information
• Saturday 16 May: Werder Bremen 1-3 Karslruher SC (Almeida 73; Stindl 28 39, Iashvili 55)
An understrength Bremen went down to a surprise home defeat by bottom side Karlsruhe. The game got off to a turbulent start as Tim Wiese saved a Marco Engelhardt penalty in the third minute. The visitors took the lead just before half-hour mark when Lars Stindl headed in and the same player then volleyed in a second before the break. Slack defending allowed Alexander Iashvili to make it three and although Hugo Almeida – suspended for the final – got one back late on, it was too little, too late for the hosts.
• “Maybe the closer you get to a final, the more careful you become, not wanting to pick up an injury ahead of the big game,” said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf. “But we cannot allow ourselves to play like this. I was not pleased with the performance of my team. You simply cannot be satisfied with such a showing. We do more harm to ourselves like this than good.”
• Clemens Fritz, Mesut Özil, Sebastian Boenisch and Peter Niemeyer were rested ahead of Wednesday’s final, although the latter came on for Torsten Frings at half-time. Schaaf made a double substitution in the 59th minute, Fritz replacing Frank Baumann and Özil taking Jurica Vranješ’s place.
• On Wednesday 13 May, Bremen ended a 12-game wait for a Bundesliga away win, thrashing ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 (Frings 51pen 56, Tziolis 60, Pizarro 62, Almeida 77). They had not won an away game in the league since beating FC Bayern München 5-2 on 20 September 2008.
• Claudio Pizarro remains Bremen’s top scorer in the league with 17 goals, ahead of eleven-goal Diego, who is suspended for the UEFA Cup final. Mesut Özil has proved their most adept playmaker, with 15 assists to date.
• Saturday’s result aside, the disparity between Bremen’s reasonable home form and their indifferent away form has been their main problem in the league this season. They have picked up 34 points at the Weserstadion, but just eleven on the road.
• Bremen will end the season with one of their worst rankings in recent memory. Champions in 2003/04, they have not finished outside the top three in the last four seasons. With one game to go, they are now certain to finish in tenth place.
• Bremen will play Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the German Cup final on 30 May. They overcame the same opponents in both the UEFA Cup and domestic cup semi-finals, Hamburg going down on penalties in the latter competition. Shakhtar also defeated the same team, Dynamo, in the last four at home and in Europe.
Injury news
Aaron Hunt – out since 20 April (ankle)
Daniel Jensen – out since 1 April (achilles and groin)
Per Mertesacker – out since 7 May (ankle)
Naldo – out since 11 May (groin)
Petri Pasanen – out 20 April to 11 May (toe operation)
Claudio Pizarro – out since 13 May (foot)
Markus Rosenberg – out since 13 May (ankle)
Christian Vander – out 29 April to 11 May (knee)
• Schaaf withdrew both Pizarro and Rosenberg from his squad to play Karlsruhe after both picked up injuries in the win over Eintracht.

Arena Hamburg, Hamburg
Thursday 7 May 2009 – 20.45CET (20.45 local time)
Matchday 13 – Semi-finals, second leg

Following their 1-0 win at the Weserstadion last Thursday in the opening leg of the 33rd all-German UEFA club competition tie, Hamburger SV have the upper hand as they prepare to welcome Hanseatic rivals Werder Bremen to decide who will represent the Bundesliga in the UEFA Cup final in Istanbul on 20 May.

Previous European meetings
• Hamburg made the better start in the first leg and it was no surprise when Piotr Trochowski gave them a 28th-minute lead, even if the manner of the goal – a powerful header from the diminutive midfielder – was unexpected. Bremen fought back strongly after the break but could not force an equaliser.
Hamburg’s record against German clubs: P7 W4 D2 L1
Hamburg’s record at home against German clubs: P3 W3 D0 L0
Bremen’s record against German clubs: P11 W3 D2 L6
Bremen’s record away against German clubs: P5 W1 D0 L4

• There is a long history of German encounters in the UEFA Cup (27 ties). This is the seventh all-German semi-final, and in 1979/80 all the teams in the last four came from the former West Germany. Eintracht Frankfurt beat FC Bayern München in one semi-final, with VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach beating VfB Stuttgart in the other. Eintracht won the final on away goals, losing 3-2 away but winning 1-0 at home in the second leg.

• The most recent all-German UEFA Cup semi-final came in 1988/89, when Stuttgart eliminated SC Dynamo Dresden after a 1-0 home win and 1-1 away draw, before losing to Diego Maradona’s SSC Napoli in the final.

• A season earlier, Bremen came up against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the last four, losing 1-0 away and drawing 0-0 at home.

• Bremen’s joint-heaviest home defeat in the competition came against German opposition in 1982/83, when they succumbed 2-0 to FC Vörwarts Frankfurt-an-der-Oder in the first round. However, they had already triumphed 3-1 in the first leg and progressed on away goals.

• That was also Bremen’s first continental meeting with another German team. A season later they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the second round by 1. FC Lokomotiv Leipzig (0-1 away, 1-1 home) and kicked off their 1988/89 European Champion Clubs’ Cup campaign against East German side Berliner FC Dynamo, winning 5-0 at home after a 3-0 away reverse.

• Bremen’s most recent European tie with a German side came against Hannover 96 in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup first round in 1992/93, when as defending champions they won 3-1 at home followed by a 2-1 away loss.

• The most recent all-German European encounter took place last year, when Hamburg met Leverkusen in the UEFA Cup Round of 16. Hamburg lost the opening leg 1-0 away and, despite winning the second game 3-2, were eliminated on away goals. Before that, Hamburg had played in two previous all-German ties before, one in the UEFA Cup and one in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup.

• Back in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup, they met Dynamo Dresden in the third round, winning 4-1 at home and drawing 2-2 in Dresden. Hamburg went on to lose to Juventus in the quarter-finals.

• In the 1982/83 European Cup, they met Berliner in the first round, drawing 1-1 away and then winning 2-0 at home. Hamburg went on to win the competition, beating Juventus 1-0 in the final with Felix Magath scoring the only goal in Athens.

Previous domestic meetings

• Bremen and Hamburg have faced each other 89 times in Bundesliga history. The Weserstadion outfit have recorded 29 wins to Hamburg’s 28, the other 32 games ending in draws. Bremen have scored 130 goals in that time to Hamburg’s 135.

• At home, Hamburg have won 19 of their matches against Bremen, losing nine and drawing 17. In those encounters, the hosts have outscored their opponents 79 goals to 52.

• In the all-time Bundesliga points table, Bremen lie second and Hamburg an extremely close third. Despite Bremen having contested one top-flight season less than their rivals, they boast six more points overall – 2380 to HSV’s 2374.

• So far this season, the two teams have met once in the league, Hamburg running out 2-1 winners at home. José Paolo Guerrero and Ivica Oli? scored their goals, with Diego responding for Bremen.

• They will resume their Bundesliga rivalry at the Weserstadion on 10 May, three days after the second leg.

• In domestic knockout competitions, the two clubs have crossed paths eight times, seven of those encounters coming in the German Cup. The other meeting occurred in the 2005/06 German League Cup. Bremen have won six of those ties (1972, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2006 and 2009) to Hamburg’s two (1935 and 1982).

• Hamburg played host to Bremen in a German Cup semi-final on 22 April, the visitors triumphing 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Arena Hamburg. Per Mertesacker had given Bremen an early lead, but Oli? responded and with Hamburg captain David Jarolím sent off and no further goals, the tie was decided in a shoot-out. Goalkeeper Tim Wiese was Bremen’s hero, saving three spot-kicks – from Jerome Boateng, Marcell Jansen and Oli? – to secure a final place for the away side.

• Bremen’s biggest win against their rivals was a 6-0 home victory from the 2003/04 Bundesliga season, while Hamburg managed to put together 5-0 wins in 1979/80 and two seasons later.

Team information

• Thomas Schaaf is the longest serving coach currently operating in the Bundesliga, having joined Bremen in May 1999. Before that, he spent 17 years as a defender with Bremen, appearing in 262 Bundesliga games and scoring 13 goals.

• Hamburg general manager Dietmar Beiersdorfer played for both teams in his own career as a defender, featuring for Hamburg from 1986 to 1992 and then for Bremen between 1992 and 1996. He has been in his current role at Hamburg since 2002.

• Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost played for Bremen between 1993 and 2002, making 147 Bundesliga appearances. He joined his current employers in January 2007.

• Bremen players Mertesacker, Wiese, Clemens Fritz, Torsten Frings and Mesut Özil play with Hamburg’s Trochowski and Jansen for Germany.

• Hamburg striker Oli? and Bremen midfielder Jurica Vranješ were part of Croatia’s 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.

• Hamburg striker Guerrero and Bremen forward Claudio Pizarro are both Peruvian internationals and took part in the 2007 Copa América.

• Bremen’s Özil, Sebastian Boenisch and Aaron Hunt could well feature for Germany at the upcoming 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alongside Hamburg’s Boateng and Dennis Aogo. All appeared in the qualifiers.

• Frings and Pizarro of Bremen were both team-mates of Hamburg’s Guerrero and Trochowski at Bayern in 2004/05.

• Frings and Hamburg defender Guy Demel were colleagues at BV Borussia Dortmund between 2002 and 2004.

Route to semi-finals
• Hamburg, fourth in the Bundesliga in 2007/08, finished first in UEFA Cup Group F and beat NEC Nijmegen comfortably in the Round of 32, winning 3-0 in the Netherlands and 1-0 at home. They then ousted Galatasaray A? to reach the quarter-finals, drawing 1-1 at home and winning 3-2 in Istanbul. In the last eight, they saw off Manchester City FC thanks to a 3-1 home success and a 2-1 away defeat.

• Bundesliga runners-up last season, Bremen earned their Round of 16 place by finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group B. They then overcame Milan on away goals in the Round of 32, drawing 1-1 at home and 2-2 at San Siro. They won 1-0 at home and drew 2-2 away against AS Saint-Etienne to make it to the quarter-finals, where they met Udinese Calcio. After winning the home leg 3-1, Schaaf’s men drew 3-3 in Italy.

• The winners of this tie will be the nominal away side in the final at the ?ükrü Saraco?lu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May, where they will face either FC Shakhtar Donetsk or FC Dynamo Kyiv.

Form book
Hamburg: HSV are appearing in the UEFA Cup semi-finals for a third time, their only previous success at this stage coming in 1981/82. They have lost just one of their last 14 European home games.
Last five European games: DWWLW
Last five European home games: LWWDW
Top scorer (Europe): Oli? (7)
Last five league games: WLWLD
Last five home league games: LWWWD
Top scorer (Bundesliga): Mladen Petri? (12)

• Hamburg have never lost a European contest after winning away in the first leg – a total of 13 ties. They won four of those initial matches 1-0.

Bremen: Although this is Bremen’s fourth UEFA Cup semi-final, they are still waiting to reach the final. They have drawn their last six away games in European competition scoring in every one.
Last five European games: WDWDL
Last five European away games: DDDDD
Top scorer (Europe): Pizarro (6, including 2 in the UEFA Champions League group stage) Diego (6, including 1 in the UEFA Champions League group stage)
Last five league games: WDLWL
Last five away league games: DLDLL
Top scorer (Bundesliga): Pizarro (16)

• Bremen have lost an opening home leg of a UEFA club competition tie three times and have been eliminated on each occasion.

Disciplinary information
Hamburg: Guerrero’s booking from the first leg has ruled him out of the decider while Aogo – who also received a yellow card at the Weserstadion – Rost and Jonathan Pitroipa are all within a caution of suspension.
Bremen: Frings, Fritz, Özil, Diego, Hugo Almeida, Daniel Jensen, Alexandros Tziolis and Markus Rosenberg are within a booking of a one-match ban.

Penalty shoot-out record
Hamburg: Hamburg’s only UEFA club competition penalty shoot-out to date ended in defeat by Sparta Rotterdam, the German club losing 4-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 aggregate draw in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup first round.
Bremen: Bremen have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

Hamburg Honours
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1982/83
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1976/77
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005, 2007
• Domestic honours: 6 German titles, 3 German Cups

Trivia

• Hamburg have played in the highest tier of German football since their foundation in 1919, the only team to have done so. They are also the only club to have been involved in every Bundesliga season to date.

• Iconic Hamburg striker Uwe Seeler was Germany’s first Player of the Year in 1960. He scored 404 goals in 476 league games for the club between 1953 and 1972.

• From 16 January 1982 to 29 January 1983, Hamburg went unbeaten for 36 league games – a Bundesliga record which has yet to be broken.

Bremen Honours
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1991/92
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1998
• Domestic honours: 4 German titles, 5 German Cups.

Trivia
• Bremen have spent only one season outside the Bundesliga since it began in 1963/64. That solitary second-tier campaign came in 1980/81, with the team winning promotion straight back into the top flight.

• The club was founded in February 1899 as FV Werder, with ‘werder’ being an obscure German word for a river island, like the Peterswerder upon which the Weserstadion stands. They became Werder Bremen in January 1920
and two years later were the first German team to hire a professional coach.

• Bremen are famous for their European miracles on home soil, with at least four games being remembered for a ‘Wunder von der Weser’:

- in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup they won 6-2 at home against FC Spartak Moskva after extra time, having lost the first leg 4-1.

- in the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs’ Cup they lost 3-0 at BFC Dynamo Berlin but prevailed with a 5-0 home success.

- In the 1993/94 campaign they came from 3-0 down in a UEFA Champions League group match against RSC Anderlecht to win 5-3.

- In the 1999/00 UEFA Cup third round they lost 3-0 at Olympique Lyonnais, but won 4-0 in the home leg.

RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk
Thursday 7 May 2009 – 18.30CET (19.30 local time)
Matchday 13 – Semi-finals, second leg

FC Shakhtar Donetsk will be hoping to press home their slender away-goal advantage over domestic rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv and become the first Ukrainian club to reach the UEFA Cup final when the two sides meet at RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium on Thursday.

Previous European meetings
• The opening leg was the first meeting between Shakhtar and Dynamo in continental competition and only the second all-Ukrainian tie in Europe. The hosts took the lead when, under pressure from Artem Milevskiy, Dmytro Chygrynskiy put through his own net (22). Shakhtar responded when Fernandinho struck (68) after good work by substitute Willian.

• Dynamo had previously faced compatriots FC Metalist Kharkiv in the Round of 16, progressing on away goals after a 1-0 home win was followed up by a 3-2 away loss.

• Before this season, no Ukrainian team had ventured as far as the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. This is also the first time a club from the country has reached the semi-finals of a UEFA club competition since Dynamo fell just short of the UEFA Champions League final in 1998/99.

Previous domestic meetings
• Dynamo have enjoyed the upper hand in league encounters with Shakhtar, having won 15 and lost eight of their 34 meetings since the inaugural Ukrainian Premier League season in 1992.

• Shakhtar won the so-called ‘Golden Match’ between the two teams at the end of the 2005/06 campaign. With both sides level on points at the top of the table, a play-off game was held in Krivoy Rog to decide the destination of the title and Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa’s extra-time goal sealed a 2-1 victory for the Pitmen.

• The two clubs also crossed paths 82 times in the old Soviet league, with Dynamo prevailing in exactly half of those games, Shakhtar winning 15 times and the other 26 matches ending with the scores level.

• In cup encounters, the two rivals have faced each other ten times since independence. Five of those meetings have come in the Ukrainian Cup – on each occasion in the final – with Dynamo triumphant three times to Shakhtar’s two.

• The other five games have come in the Ukrainian Super Cup, which, since its inauguration in 2004, has been contested by Dynamo and Shakhtar every year. Four of those matches have ended in penalties – with either side claiming two wins – while the only game to end after 90 minutes resulted in a 2-0 success for Dynamo in 2006.

• During the Soviet era, the two clubs locked horns nine times in cup fixtures. Dynamo won their only Soviet Super Cup encounter and prevailed in two of their three Soviet Cup contests, with Shakhtar edging the other. In the USSR Federation Cup, meanwhile, Shakhtar triumphed in three of five games, Dynamo winning one and the other ending in a draw.

• The domestic rivals will face each other at least a further three times between now and the end of the season. Aside from their UEFA Cup decider, they will also come together on 13 May in a postponed Ukrainian Cup semi-final originally due to be held on 22 April. They will also meet in Kiev on 26 May in the last game of the Premier League season.

• Shakhtar won the previous league match between the two clubs this season 1-0 in Donetsk on 16 November 2008, Willian firing the winner after 35 minutes.

Team information
• Dynamo coach Yuri Semin had prior experience of facing Ukrainian opposition in European club competition before last week’s first leg, his FC Lokomotiv Moskva side coming up against both Shakhtar and Dynamo in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League.

• Semin’s then team beat Shakhtar 3-1 at home after a 1-0 away reverse to reach the group stage, where they lost 2-0 at Dynamo before prevailing 3-2 in the return fixture.

• Lewandowski, Olexiy Gai and R?zvan Ra? started for Shakhtar in both legs of that first tie, with Darijo Srna introduced from the bench in each game and Lewandowski scoring in the second match.

• Maksim Shatskikh, Tiberiu Ghioane, Andriy Nesmachniy, Olexandr Shovkovskiy and Oleh Gusev all started for Dynamo in their first meeting with Lokomotiv in 2003/04, while Florin Cernat was brought on as a substitute and Milevskiy remained an unused replacement. When the teams came together in Russia, Shovkovskiy was again in goal, starting with goalscorer Shatskikh, Ghioane, Nesmachniy, Gusev and Goran Sablji?, while Badr El Kaddouri and Ayila Yussuf stayed on the bench.

• Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu came up against Dynamo during his time in charge of Be?ikta? JK in the third round of the UEFA Cup in 2002/03, winning the home leg 3-1 and drawing 0-0 away before exiting to S.S. Lazio at the quarter-final stage.

• Shatskikh, Ghioane, Nesmachniy all started the first leg of that tie, with Cernat coming on as a replacement and both Shovkovskiy and El Kaddouri unused substitutes. Shovkovskiy and El Kaddouri then started the return game, along with Shatskikh, Ghioane and Sablji?, Nesmachniy this time sitting out the contest on the bench.

• Dynamo midfielder Serhiy Kravchenko began his career with the Shakhtar youth and reserve teams, leaving the club in 2005. Similarly, Shakhtar stand-in goalkeeper Rustam Khudzhamov learnt the ropes at Dynamo without ever playing a league game for the first team. Shakhtar defender Volodymyr Yezerskiy made five Premier League appearances apiece in the 1998/99 and 1999/00 campaigns for Dynamo, both of which ended with the capital side winning the title.

• Legendary Soviet striker and Dynamo coach Valeriy Lobanovskiy ended his playing days at Shakhtar, where he stayed between 1967 and 1968. Another famous Dynamo name, Oleg Bazilevich, who worked as Lobanovskiy’s assistant during their triumphant UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup campaign in 1974/75, coached Shakhtar on two occasions, in 1972/73 and 1986. Former Dynamo forward Anatoliy Byshovets coached the Pitmen in 1998/99.

• Players often transferred between the two clubs in Soviet times – not least former Shakhtar players Anatoliy Konkov, who went on to win the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with Dynamo in 1974/75, and Viktor Chanov, who lifted the same trophy with the Bilo-Syni in 1985/86. More recently, Shakhtar old boy Serhiy Rebrov turned out for Dynamo from 1992 to 2000 and then again from 2005 to 2008.

• Four current Dynamo players reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals with Ukraine: Shovkovskiy, Nesmachniy, Gusev and Milevskiy. Shakhtar also had four players in that squad: Yezerskiy, Bohdan Shust, Andriy Pyatov and Chygrynskiy.

• Dynamo players Taras Mikhalik, Milevskiy and Olexandr Aliyev were runners-up with Ukraine at the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Portugal alongside Shakhtar’s Pyatov, Mykola Ischenko and Chygrynskiy.

• Dynamo’s Ognjen Vukojevi? played for Croatia at UEFA EURO 2008™ with Shakhtar captain Srna. Dynamo defender Sablji? was not selected for the squad but made five appearances for Croatia between 2002 and 2006 and was Srna’s team-mate at HNK Hajduk Split from 1999 to 2003.

• Cernat of Dynamo and Shakhtar’s Ra? are Romanian internationals, having both made their debuts in 2002.

• Dynamo’s Carlos Corrêa was briefly a colleague of Shakhtar’s Ilsinho at Brazilian side SE Palmeiras in the first half of 2006. Likewise, Dynamo defender Betão was a team-mate of Shakhtar midfielder Willian at SC Corinthians Paulista between 2005 and 2007.

• Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko expressed her gratitude to Dynamo, Shakhtar and eliminated Metalist for their achievements after the three Premier League teams competed in the Round of 16, saying their success augured well for Ukraine’s co-hosting of UEFA EURO 2012™.

Route to semi-finals

• Ukrainian champions Shakhtar finished third in UEFA Champions League Group C to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-0 at home before drawing the return leg 1-1 in London. They lost 1-0 at PFC CSKA Moskva in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie but progressed after a 2-0 home success. Like Dynamo, the Pitmen then faced French opposition in the quarter-finals, beating Olympique de Marseille 2-0 in Donetsk and 2-1 at the Stade Vélodrome.

• Shakhtar are the only team left in the UEFA Cup who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions.

• Runners-up in the Ukrainian Premier League last season, Dynamo finished third in UEFA Champions League Group G to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Having overcome Valencia CF on away goals to reach the Round of 16, drawing 1-1 in Ukraine and 2-2 in Spain, they then got the better of Metalist via the same method. That set up a last-eight tie with Paris Saint-Germain FC and, after drawing 0-0 in France, Semin’s men triumphed 3-0 at home.

• The winners of this tie will be the nominal home side in the final at the ?ükrü Saraco?lu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May, where they will face either Werder Bremen or Hamburger SV.

Form book
Shakhtar: Making their first appearance in a UEFA Cup semi-final, the Pitmen have won their last four European home games with an aggregate score of 11-0.
Last five European games: LWWWD
Last five European home games: LWWWW
Top scorer (Europe): Jadson (6, including 4 in the UEFA Champions League group stage)
Last five league games: WLWWW
Last five home league games: WWWWW
Top scorer (Premier League): Fernandinho, Olexandr Gladkiy (5)
• Shakhtar have come away with a first-leg away draw on three occasions and gone on to win the tie on twice.

• That sole defeat was by Sevilla FC in a UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie when they could not defend a 2-2 away result going down 5-4 on aggregate.

• The only time they achieved a 1-1 result in an away opener was against FC Zimbru Chi?in?u in the preliminary round of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, a tie they ran out 4-1 overall winners in after a 3-0 home victory.

Dynamo: In the last four of the UEFA Cup for the first time, Dynamo have won three out of their eight away games in Europe this season and scored in five.
Last five European games: WLDWD
Last five European away games: WLDLD
Top scorer (Europe): Artem Kravets (2), Milevskiy (2, including 1 in the UEFA Champions League group stage), Vukojevi? (2) & Ismaël Bangoura (2, including 1 in the UEFA Champions League group stage)
Last five league games: WWLWW
Last five away league games: WWWWW
Top scorer (Premier League): Bangoura and Aliyev (12)

• In all, Dynamo have drawn the opening home leg on 13 occasions in UEFA club competition and progressed further on just three occasions. However, the four times they drew 1-1 at home, they have gone on to win the tie twice.

• In the UEFA Cup Round of 32 earlier this season they went through on away goals after following a 1-1 draw against Valencia CF in Kiev with a 2-2 result in Spain. They also overcame Brøndby IF in the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs’ Cup with a 1-0 away win sealing a 2-1 aggregate success. Their losses came to PFC Levski Sofia in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup first round and against TSV Eintracht Braunschweig in the same stage of the 1977/78 edition of the competition.

Disciplinary information
Shakhtar: A booking for Olexandr Kucher in the first leg means he sits out the decider while Tomáš Hübschman, Fernandinho, Luiz Adriano and Srna are all within a booking of suspension.
Dynamo: Aliyev and Mikhalik are within a caution of one-match bans.

Penalty shoot-out record
Shakhtar: Shakhtar were beaten 4-1 on penalties away to Club Brugge KV following a 2-2 aggregate result in the third qualifying round of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League. It is their only UEFA competition spot-kick decider thus far.

Dynamo: Dynamo won their only UEFA club competition shoot-out to date, beating AC Sparta Praha 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate result in the second qualifying round of the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League.

Shakhtar Donetsk Honours
• Domestic honours: 4 Ukrainian titles, 6 Ukrainian Cups, 4 USSR Cups Trivia

• Founded in 1936 as FC Stakhanovets, the Donbass side took on their current name in 1946. Shakhtar’s name literally means ‘Miner’. Their nicknames, Hirnyky (the Pitmen) and Kroty (the Moles), also refer to their colliery roots.

• Shakhtar won four USSR Cups in the days of the Soviet Union and twice finished second in the league, in 1975 and 1979. In the latter season, Vitaliy Starukhin scored 26 goals and was named the Soviet Union’s Player of the Year.

• Famous Shakhtar youth academy products include former Manchester United FC player Andrei Kanchelskis, one-time Russia captain Viktor Onopko and Rebrov, while Shakhtar old boy Konkov was a member of the USSR squad that came second at the 1972 UEFA European Championship.

Dynamo Kyiv Honours
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1974/75, 1985/86
• UEFA Super Cup: 1975
• Domestic honours: 12 Ukrainian titles, 9 Ukrainian Cups, 13 Soviet titles, 9 USSR Cups Trivia

• Founded in 1927, the club were a thorn in the side of the big Moscow teams during the Soviet era, winning a record 13 titles. Since independence they have dominated Ukrainian football, winning 12 titles and nine Ukrainian Cups.

• Two Dynamo players won the Ballon d’Or while at the club – Oleh Blokhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986. A third, Andriy Shevchenko, took the title in 2004, having left for AC Milan in 1999.

• A winger for Dynamo in the 1950s and 1960s, coach Lobanovskiy led Dynamo to their landmark European successes and guided the Soviet Union to a runners-up finish at the 1988 UEFA European Championship. Following his death in 2002, Dynamo renamed their home stadium in his honour and erected a statue to his memory outside.

Weserstadion, Bremen
Thursday 30 April 2009 – 20.45CET (20.45 local time)
Matchday 12 – Semi-finals, first leg

With Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf’s 48th birthday falling on the day his side take on rivals Hamburger SV in the first leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final at the Weserstadion, there are no prizes for guessing how he would like to celebrate.

‘Big emotions’
Having already won their German Cup semi-final against HSV last week, the first of four meetings between the two teams in the space of 19 days, the intention is to carry that momentum on to the European stage. “My wish is that we play well, control the match and that the supporters get behind us,” Schaaf said ahead of the seventh all-German semi-final in the competition. “I hope we can keep up the good run we’ve had in the UEFA Cup. It’s an all-German semi-final which means big emotions for the supporters. Both teams know how important this derby match is.”

Tenth anniversary
Though the skies over Bremen are grey, the mood in both camps was bright as the northern cities count down the minutes to the second instalment of this four-part drama which concludes three days after the second leg in the Bundesliga. For Schaaf the significant dates are coming thick and fast. He celebrates his tenth anniversary as Bremen coach on 9 May and what better way to mark the occasion than by taking Bremen to the final in Istanbul against either FC Dynamo Kyiv or FC Shakhtar Donetsk. “That would be great, but being here ten years doesn’t matter, what’s important is to get this team to the final,” he said. “To do that we have to work very hard and play well in both games.”

Morale high
Bremen have lost at this stage three times before and the tie represents the chance to salvage a disappointing season. Mid-table in the Bundesliga, their German Cup win on penalties over Hamburg raised morale which was further boosted by a 3-2 victory over VfL Bochum 1848 on Saturday. Hamburg have been enjoying a terrific season in the league and are only three points off the summit. Their cup exit, however, was followed by defeat at BV Borussia Dortmund and coach Martin Jol knows his side must quickly regain momentum.

Good teams
“We’re happy to be in the semi-final,” he said. “It’s very good for the club and the players want to get to the final, but we haven’t won anything yet. It’s normally an advantage if you play your first game away, but we have to see if it turns out to be better for us. I think the chances are 50-50. They are both good teams and both have a good chance to advance.”

Barren run
Jol will be without injured striker Mladen Petri? and defender Marcell Jansen, but welcomes back Alex Silva. Bremen are missing defender Petri Pasanen though midfielder Frank Baumann is expected to be fit. Hamburg, beaten finalists in 1982, have not got this far in European competition since winning the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1983, a barren run Jol is determined to end. As for Schaaf’s birthday, the Dutchman insisted his generosity would not be stretched too far. “What do you want to hear, that I’m going to give him a trip Istanbul?” The joking ends on Thursday.

Mathijsen calls on Hamburg to bounce back
Defender Joris Mathijsen believes Hamburger SV’s German Cup defeat at the hands of local rivals Werder Bremen will serve as added motivation ahead of their UEFA Cup semi-final first leg at the Weserstadion on Thursday.

Motivation
Hamburg were knocked out on penalties in the semi-finals of the German Cup, the first match in a sequence of four meetings between the Hanseatic rivals in 19 days. Mathijsen, though, is expecting a positive reaction from his side in round two. “We lost the cup game last week and now we are extra motivated for the match tomorrow,” said the 29-year-old.

‘Good chance’
The UEFA Cup ties come in the thick of the Bundesliga race as Hamburg, three points off the top, chase their first title since 1983 and Mathijsen called on his side to ensure an excellent season ends on a high. “A lot of the younger players think these kind of chances come often, but when you are older you realise that it might only come once and I try to explain this to them. The fact is we want this title. A chance like this might not come again.”

Mertesacker confident
It is the 27th all-German UEFA Cup tie and both sides have met domestic opposition in this competition before. Bremen indeed have lost at this stage to German rivals, falling in the last four in 1987/88 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen who also knocked out Hamburg, finalists in 1982, in the last 16 last season. Bremen have reached the UEFA Cup semi-final on three previous occasions without reaching a final, but defender Per Mertesacker is confident this time they are ready to go one step further.

Second step
“It has not been a great season for us and it is not enough to be in tenth place, but I hope we can take motivation from the German Cup and maybe win the UEFA Cup,” he said. Bremen seem to have the momentum in their favour having followed up that victory in Hamburg last Wednesday with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over VfL Bochum 1848 on Saturday. “It was important for us to take the first step in the German Cup, but it is up to us now to take the second step in the UEFA Cup,” Mertesacker added. “This second match will be important for us but we have to take it game by game and then we will see. The players on each team know each other and it will be very interesting.”

Focus
Seven Bremen players are within one booking of a one-match and three from Hamburg, but Mertesacker does not believe it will affect the way they approach Thursday’s game. “I don’t think about that and the other players won’t either because we have to play with focus,” he said.