Werder rallied to beat Hamburger SV 3-2 in the second leg of and went through on the away goals rule, with the aggregate score 3-3 after Hamburg’s 1-0 win in Bremen one week ago.
Shakhtar edged Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in the second leg of their all-Ukrainian matchup to advance 3-2 on aggregate. Brazilian midfielder Ilsinho scored the winner late in the game.
The final of Europe’s second-tier club competition is May 20 in Istanbul, Turkey, and both Werder and Shakhtar made the title game for the first time.
In a fast-paced game in Hamburg, Ivica Olic scored for the home team in the 13th minute, but Diego tied the game in the 29th after a neat 1-2 move with Claudio Pizarro.
Pizarro scored in the 66th for a 2-1 Werder lead with a superb shot form 25 yards and Frank Baumann made it 3-1 in the 83rd with a header from close range, before Olic scored his second in the 87th to send the game into a thrilling finish.
“We kept faith until the end and fought until the final whistle,” Pizarro said.
Werder also eliminated Hamburg in the semifinals of the German Cup. In the final, Werder will be without playmaker Diego and striker Hugo Almeida, who both picked up yellow cards that rule them out.
“We kept faith until the end and fought until the final whistle,” Pizarro said.
In Donetsk, Brazilian midfielder Ilsinho scored the winner with a minute left in regulation. He collected a long ball on the right, cut inside the box while faking two Dynamo players, Badr El Kaddouri and Ayila Yussuf, and shot the ball inside the far post.
Shakhtar took the lead on Jadson’s shot from 13 yards in the 17th after defender Betao failed to control Darijo Srna’s cross into the box from the right.
Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura equalized two minutes into the second half, breaking through two defenders to shoot into the lower left corner.
“It was a real and tough cup match of the highest level,” Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu said. “There was enough show and real struggle in the match from the players on both sides.”
Lucescu said he had considered substituting a tired Isinho, but that he “had a premonition” the Brazilian would decide the match and left him on the field.
Dynamo staged dangerous counterattacks and had Ognjen Vukojevic’s strike from Oleksandr Aliyev’s free kick disallowed for offside in the 40th.
“Two equal teams played in the match,” Dynamo coach Yuri Syomin said. “Our counterattacks looked good, but unfortunately we failed to capitalize.”
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