{"id":1140835,"date":"2020-08-04T18:49:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T17:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1140835"},"modified":"2020-08-04T18:49:53","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T17:49:53","slug":"shakhtar-donetsk-uefa-cup-winners-2008-09-season","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/shakhtar-donetsk-uefa-cup-winners-2008-09-season\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to the Shakhtar Donetsk side that became the ‘last’ Uefa Cup winners?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past decade, the Europa League has been dominated by La Liga and Premier League<\/span> sides \u2013 but it wasn’t always so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years, Uefa’s second-most prestigious trophy has been lifted no fewer than six times by clubs hailing from Spain<\/span>, with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla winning three each, while English giants Manchester United<\/span> and Chelsea<\/span> (twice) have also tasted glory.<\/p>\n

In fact, the 2010\/11 all-Portuguese final between Porto and Braga was the last time a team from one of these nations didn’t make the final two.<\/p>\n

However, in 2008\/09, the competition’s final season as the “Uefa Cup”, something completely unexpected happened: Shakhtar Donetsk beat Werder Bremen in the final to become the first Ukrainian side to win a major European honour since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Spearheaded by a cast of brilliant Brazilians and backed up by some stalwart natives, this Shakhtar side was multi-cultural and multi-functional with a whole host of cult names.<\/p>\n

So, what happened to this side after their Uefa Cup triumph? Let’s take a look…<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper: Andriy Pyatov<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Age:\u00a0<\/strong>36<\/p>\n

Club: <\/strong>Shakhtar Donetsk<\/p>\n

11 years later, Andriy Pyatov is still going strong between the sticks for Shakhtar having now notched up over 450 appearances for the club in all competitions — the third-highest of any player. A true club legend, Pyatov has lifted no fewer than nine league titles with\u00a0Hirnyky<\/span><\/em>, as well as eight Ukrainian cups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To date, he also has 93 caps for the Ukraine national team<\/span> and as long as his body holds out, he should quickly hit the 100 mark.<\/p>\n

Right-back: Darijo Srna\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Age:\u00a0<\/strong>38<\/p>\n

Club:\u00a0<\/strong>Retired<\/p>\n

Shakhtar’s all-time appearance record holder with 536 outings for the club, Darijo Srna wore the captain’s armband and was the man who got to lift the Uefa Cup aloft back in 2009.<\/p>\n

Like Pyatov, Srna won a whole host of honours with Shakhtar and is one of, if not the most revered player ever to don the orange and black shirt. However, his career wasn’t totally without controversy, with the 134-time Croatia<\/span> international a ban from September 2017 to August 2018 for failing a doping test.<\/p>\n

Now 38, Srna retired in 2019 after a one-season spell with Italian side Cagliari.<\/p>\n

Centre-back: Oleksandr Kucher<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Age:\u00a0<\/strong>37<\/p>\n

Club:\u00a0<\/strong>Retired<\/p>\n

Oleksandr Kucher carried on at Shakhtar for another eight years following their Uefa Cup win, racking up 295 appearances for the club in total before finally leaving to join Turkish Super Lig side Kayserispor in 2017.<\/p>\n

In two seasons there, he helped guide the club to respectable ninth and 10th-placed finishes, making exactly 50 appearances across all competitions.<\/p>\n

He retired from the game in 2019 with 57 caps for Ukraine<\/span> under his belt.<\/p>\n

Centre-back: Dmytro Chygrynskiy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Age:\u00a0<\/strong>33<\/p>\n

Club:\u00a0<\/strong>AEK Athens<\/p>\n

Dmytro Chygrynskiy’s performances in the 2008\/09 season were impressive enough to persuade Barcelona<\/span> to part with \u20ac25m in order to secure his services, becoming the first Ukrainian to ever play for the club. Bizarrely, Barca<\/span> even allowed the centre-back to line-up against them for his former club in the 2010 Uefa Super Cup, which the Blaugrana<\/span> won 1-0.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chygrynskiy lasted just one year with Barca<\/span>, however, unable to supplant the likes of Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, returning to Shakhtar in 2010 for just \u20ac15m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chygrynskiy was never quite the same upon his return and failed to hold down a regular place in the starting XI. Now 33, he turns out for AEK Athens these days having also featured for Dnipro.<\/p>\n