Former Shakhtar defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy has shared his memories of winning the UEFA Cup in 2009.
Dmytro Chygrynskiy- That year, when Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup, there was a lot of talk about Lucescu's dismissal because of the Champions League exit. How did the team perceive it?
- I was quite young then and I was not used to reacting to such things. When the results are not very good, you first of all watch your game. If Lucescu was in danger, I was also responsible for it.
Lucescu didn't show any anxiety and kept telling us: "Guys, we can win the UEFA Cup". After the victory over Barcelona in the last round, Mister gave us confidence: "We beat Barcelona at Camp Nou, so why can't we win the UEFA Cup?".
After the loss to Sporting, when we realised we would not make the Champions League play-offs, president Rinat Akhmetov came into the changing room and said: "I don't want to see despair. We may have crashed out of the Champions League to win the UEFA Cup." I remember these words very much, as it turned out, they were prophetic.
- How did the team celebrate the victory?
- In the first few days I couldn't even sleep. Now, when I remember that time, my mind is a kaleidoscope of events, not something solid. I remember that it was madness in the hotel in Istanbul after the final, everyone came to take pictures. The families of the players lived in the neighbouring hotel and after the game they came to celebrate with us.
Thousands of people met us at Donetsk airport, there was a celebration on the square, then at the Donbass Palace. A few days later we lost the Ukrainian Cup, but nobody reacted to that.
After our victory in the UEFA Cup, there was a collective psychosis in Ukraine. All TV channels were talking only about Shakhtar. Srna and I flew by charter to Kyiv for Savik Shuster's programme. I looked, and there Yulia Tymoshenko came out in a Shakhtar T-shirt. Then there was a reception at the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. Everything was like in a dream!
