Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium was the host to one of the most historical days of the European cups. On Wednesday night, the last final of the UEFA Cup – its name will be UEFA Europea League beginning from 2009-2010 football season- was played in Istanbul. In this historical night one wishes that a Turkish team had played and had won it; but we had to settle with being the venue owner.
Although the final game was not satisfying from a football point of view, it seemed successful as an organization. There was one thing that was not seen on the tv coverage: the setting to enter the stadium from outside. Especially reaching Gate 16, which was also my gate of entrance, was like a torture. After reaching the gates, it was easy to enter in but the roads created to approach those gates were too narrow. Another problem was the difficulty of buying official UEFA products and official match-day programme. Those stands were positioned only to be available for the supporters entering from certain gates. In this case, the people who wanted to buy these products had to persuade the policemen for entering these sites after the game.
After the struggle of entering to the stadium, the fans had worried about if they would be able to sit on their numbered seats. I don’t know if German and Ukrainian fans in their countries follow this rule of sitting only to their numbered seats or not, but most probably they thought: “This is a UEFA Cup Final and everybody will sit only to their seats.” At least, when I arrived 45 minutes before the kick-off, nobody was sitting at my seat that was on the front rows and I sat to my seat happily.
The part of the stadium where I sat was reserved for Werder Bremen fans; therefore sympathy for Werder was formed between the Turkish fans also sitting at these stands. Furthermore, when the German fans started chanting “Wer-Der, Wer-Der”; a group of Fenerbahçe fans joined them by chanting “Fe-Ner, Fe-Ner!”
When we see Mesut Özil at the starting line-up of Werder Bremen, our sense of belonging to Bremen team grew even more. In fact, the fans that follow the sports news closely would be upset at Mesut’s decision to join the German national team instead of Turkey. But still he was a Turk in his bloods and our support for Bremen was intact.
The game started for us under these circumstances and Shaktar Donetsk began to dominate all around the field against Werder Bremen without the midfield genius Diego. The domination of Shaktar changed the subject of our conversation from Mesut to Lucescu’s tactics and whether he would coach Fenerbahçe for the next season. The moment we negotiated a 2+1 year contract with Lucescu, Luiz Adriano received a through ball into the penalty box and scored for Shaktar Donetsk.
After conceding the goal, Bremen team increased the pressure on Shaktar but the balance remained still. 10 minutes later than Adriano’s goal, Bremen striker Rosenberg received the ball just outside the Shaktar penalty box and he was fouled instantly during an effort to pass by the defenders. Naldo took the freekick poorly but because of the poorer performance of the Shaktar’s goalkeeper, it was enough for the ball to reach the goal and Werder drawed before the half-time whistle.
In the second half, both teams kept their performance levels! the same. Other than a few incidents, there was not any situation that made the fans excited. Therefore some Fenerbahçe fans started to chant for Fenerbahçe out of boredom. A group of non-Fenerbahçe fans started to protest these chanting fans reminding them this is the final of the UEFA Cup.
During the extra time, a little group of fans behind my seat started to discuss if they should watch the rest of the game at their homes because it was late and the game was not much of an entertainment. But during this conversation, Jadson scored for Shaktar and Lucescu’s team started to control the possession of the ball in order to end the game with this score. Therefore, we all understood that the game would not go to the penalties. The group behind me also decided to stay till the end.
Close to the end of the extra time, Werder Bremen put more pressure for a last attempt for a draw and they scored a goal which was unfortunately disallowed by Cantelejo, who then whistled the final blow that made Lucescu’s players the champion of the UEFA Cup.
This was an end of another era in the history of European cups. Shaktar Donetsk had won the last of the UEFA Cup which will be played similar to the Champions League format beginning from next year.
This was an end of another era in the history of European cups. Shaktar Donetsk had won the last of the UEFA Cup which will be played similar to the Champions League format beginning from next year.
(22 Mayıs 2009, Sporstudyosu.com)
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