UEFA CUP FINAL: Shakhtar Donetsk v Werder Bremen:WERDER BREMEN coach Thomas Schaaf is assessing the walking wounded in his injury-hit squad ahead of tonight's Uefa Cup final against Shakhtar Donetsk.
“I do not know who is fit and who can play,” Schaaf said an hour before his side were due to train at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium yesterday. “I am not even thinking about a (team) formation yet.”
Schaaf will definitely be without influential playmaker Diego and striker Hugo Almeida, who are suspended, while defender Per Mertesacker is injured and will not play.
Captain Frank Baumann is battling to shake off a muscle strain, as is Brazilian defender Naldo. Strikers Claudio Pizarro and Markus Rosenberg missed the home defeat by Karlsruhe on Saturday after picking up injuries.
Schaaf said Diego, Almeida and Mertesacker “cannot be replaced on a one-to-one basis” but he would still be able to field a strong team.
Brazilian Diego has been heavily linked with a move to Juventus with German media reporting the deal was worth about €29 million.
Werder general manager Klaus Allofs said a transfer was “still up in the air despite weeks of talks” while Schaaf told reporters Diego had not yet played his last game for the club: “We still have an important league match against (Bundesliga leaders) Wolfsburg and then the German Cup final (against Bayer Leverkusen). Diego will play a part in these games.”
The last Uefa Cup final will be a clash of German brawn and Ukrainian technique, Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu said ahead of the clash.
“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 Ukrainian side, who have reached their first European final, have no injury worries but will be without suspended midfielder Tomas Huebschman.
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.
Meanwhile, Matuzalem and Real Zaragoza have been ordered to pay Shakhtar Donetsk almost €12 million for breach of contract, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said yesterday.
The midfielder signed a five-year deal with the Ukrainian club in 2004 but in July 2007 he told Shakhtar he was terminating the contract and later joined Spain’s Zaragoza.
