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Football.ua brings to your attention a side view of the career of Donetsk legend Shakhtar.
Growing up as a football fan in Yorkshire, there was little that caught my attention outside of the exciting atmosphere of English football. I saw and dreamed of ascending to the Hull City throne, and the rest of the week was spent exchanging letters at school or in the local park.
Not being able to stay up at night during the Champions League, or access anything other than BBC football coverage, meant that during my childhood, football was only in my dreams. And it will take something special, like Barcelona’s impressive supremacy in Spain, to divert football discussions with family and friends from our local football.
Another part of the game that expanded our football horizons with my brother is Football Manager. They spent years playing PSP, until, however, we did not embark on another quest: to recreate the history of Hull City, which we both knew and were obsessed with.
From season one, when Stephen Appiah signed as a free agent, to the inevitable signing of Axel Witsel, the Joneses have had many favorites. Yet there was one man: more trustworthy, more diligent, and more desirable to sign than anyone else. Meet the Croatian sensation of the time: Darijo Srna.
With more green stats than almost any other player in the game, we never understood why he stayed in Shakhtar Donetsk for so long. Since then, we have matured and expanded our knowledge of sports, so it became clear why this happened. He played for the great Miner under the long reign of Mircea Lucescu.
Upon his arrival in Ukraine, the defender has already established himself as one of Croatia’s brightest young players, helping Hajduk win the league title and two cups in four outstanding seasons, allowing him to enter the Croatian national team in Euro 2004.
The transfer from the great country to the club with a similar status on its territory, the transfer from Split to Donetsk Shakhtar, initially meant only the beginning of a successful career for Srna. However, he had to overcome a lot to start playing for this team.
In Metkovic, a small town where football was alien to handball in a sporting sense and sport in general carried little weight amid the Yugoslav War, the potential for a prosperous football career was far from favorable. However, Srna ended up at local club NK Nertva, where he first played as an attacking midfielder before Hajduk Split arrived, which won the many club talent competition.
To highlight the feelings and respect for the first club, the club, Srna showed interest in returning to Neretva after leaving Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018, although this step never happened.
It’s one thing to be rated dedicated and legendary in the same club, but sometimes this can be misinterpreted by outsiders. Take Gary Neville, for example. Therefore, it is important to understand how unsurpassed and compelling Srna was, not only as a person, but also as a player.
His transfer to Shakhtar Donetsk was met with surprise, as all of Europe showed interest in him, and those problems were further exacerbated when, a few months later, Srna wanted to leave Ukraine. He wanted to stop playing for Bernd Schuster’s Pitmen due to rare appearances on the field.
However, impressive performances at the Ukrainian Cup gave Srna a chance to adjust to the new team and regain a new taste for trophies, even though he did not play in the final. In the initially slow season for him, which, perhaps, should have opened up a completely different career for the Croatian, he still remained in Ukraine and reaped the fruits of demonstrated endurance.
Schuster, who led the miner, he left in less than a season – in May 2004 he was replaced by Mircea Lucescu. A Romanian specialist has been in charge of the team for 12 years. Just three weeks after his appointment, Lucescu led his new club to a 2-0 win over Dnipro in the aforementioned final, which gave his intentions almost immediately.
This transition was fruitful in many aspects of the nascent Donetsk club dynasty, and Srna became a grassroots player. In the 2004/05 season, Srna’s performance in training, his versatile qualities and his exemplary behavior left Lucescu with no choice but to consolidate him in the first team.
In total, the Croatian played 42 games and helped Shakhtar win the second league title. The situation has changed for both Shakhtar and Srna. The right-back position has been ensured by his outstanding ability to organize and line up his defensive teammates before embarking on an indomitable advance.
Their stable performance also allowed Croatia to successfully qualify for the World Cup and advance to the final with Sweden in first place. The Swedes have lost only twice, both – to Croatia, both – 1: 0, both goals were scored by Srna. These precise blows helped the “accident victims” not to lose on the road to Germany.
Meanwhile, in Shakhtar, he lost only once in the entire season. Dynamo Kiev struggled desperately to regain top place in the table and then, as in the previous season, lost to Shakhtar. Both teams finished 30 points more than the rest, and both won 23 games and tied six of their 30 games. This meant that a “game of gold” had to be played to determine the league winner.
In a match that meant much more than a trophy, in a year in which both teams deserved to win, it was impossible to do without a loser. In that game, Shakhtar proved to be a worthy winner in overtime.
Whether for the club or for the country, in a friendly match or in the final, Srna increasingly understood what was being asked of him on the field. He was in full control of the right flank, winning fights that tested physical strength and pace. The forwards dodged him, the defenders trembled as his right foot grabbed the ball for another precise cross.
By showing such superiority in every third of the field, he instilled confidence in his team and infected a winning mentality. At 24, his footballing mind was far beyond his years, and each of his teammates was driven by the energy and intelligence that he radiated.
Srna has always been hunted by the best European clubs, but the footballer himself was at the center of something special and knew that Shakhtar Donetsk could achieve more, even when in 2007 they ran out of trophies for the first time in four years. Then the UPL and the Country Cup were won by Kiev Dynamo.
This failure only strengthened the Shakhtar, who managed to maintain the spine, which included: Srna, Chygrynskyy, Fernandinho, Brandao, and Lucescu. In time, the UPL and the Cup returned to Donetsk. Their rivals from Kiev fought back once more in a captivating fight, but their 26th league title completely eclipsed Shakhtar in a season that will be remembered as Srna’s greatest.
In the European campaign, the Ukrainians notched up a famous 3-2 victory at the Camp Nou, and while that was not enough to qualify for the group playoffs, it definitely gave the impetus to advance to the UEFA Cup. Third place resulted in a two-legged showdown with Tottenham, in which Shakhtar won 3-1 before victories over CSKA and Marseille en route to the semi-finals. Then another meeting with Dynamo Kiev. Before this season, no team from the Eastern European countries had reached the last 16 of the competition, so the two teams from Ukraine in the final four were an incredible achievement.
After a 1: 1 draw in the away game, Srna and company played the second game at the highest level. Jadson put the hosts ahead, Bangura recovered a goal, but Ilsinho had the last word. The Brazilian burst into the penalty area, and then hit the ball and it was in the net. Once again, when it mattered, mindset and game management proved key for Shakhtar as Srna’s ability to turn his team into a solid defensive structure before launching his attacks was visible, which played a role. very important.
Werder Bremen, who beat Hamburg 2-0, became Shakhtar’s rival in the UEFA Cup final in Istanbul. After dominating in the first minutes, Luiz Adriano advanced Lucescu’s charges, but ten minutes later a free kick by Naldo neutralized the Pitmen’s success.
As the game progressed, both teams tested each other’s possessions, hoping their attacking firepower would be sufficient. The Brazilian style of Willian, Luiz Adriano, Ilsinho and Jadson was equally dangerous for opponents and deceptive for Shakhtar. Werder Bremen Bremen had Claudio Pizarro and a playmaker in the person of Mesut Ozil in their ranks. But after 90 minutes, neither team showed enough to win the game. They both needed something different and Darijo Srn had something to offer.
In the seventh minute of extra time, an impeccably tight pass from Srn’s right foot directed the ball to Jadson to push it past Tim Wiese. So Shakhtar became the first Ukrainian team to win the UEFA Cup. In doing so, Srna solidified his legacy as a club legend along with many others that night, and it’s safe to say that none of this would have been possible without him.
In a career of this caliber, filled with moments of success and extraordinary personal achievement, it is impossible to cover all the details. When Srna showed her best game, I simply thanked her for the fact that her full talent was simply inexplicable.
He became one of the best right-backs in the world in a league that wasn’t even in the top 10 in Europe, and between 2010 and 2014 he won five championship titles. And then the Shakhtar simply had no competitors. Neither the Dynamo nor other clubs simply couldn’t stop him.
In the following Champions League season, Srna scored one goal and had five assists in nine games. Lucescu’s men made their way back into club history, reaching the quarterfinals before Barcelona beat them 6-1 on aggregate.
At first glance, it seems unlikely that time spent in Ukraine on a professional level will spark the interest of the European giants, but Srna continued to captivate the football world with his unique and inspiring personality, taking away the joy of the football field. As Ukraine continues to experience the war that started in 2014, Srna has done well. He bought 20 tons of mandarins in Metkovich, where he grew up, and presented them to more than 20,000 schoolchildren in Ukraine.
In addition, he frequently bought match tickets and financed the orphans’ travel expenses while at the Shakhtar, and also bought more than 100 laptops for children in schools. A source of inspiration to fans and locals in Croatia and Ukraine, Srna has cemented his legacy as an incredibly dedicated, endlessly determined footballer and a world-class person.
For his country, he played 134 games and scored 22 goals. He played an incredible 536 games for Shakhtar, which is also a record. After Srna left for the Serie A team – Cagliari for the season in 2018, Srna returned to Shakhtar, first as an assistant coach and now as a football director, as he is now trying to write a new chapter in the Ukrainian football folklore.
After leaving the club in 2016, Mircea Lucescu is now in charge of Dynamo Kiev. Shakhtar now has its own leaders: Marcos Antonio, Dodo and Tete. The club continued its philosophy based on Brazilian talent.
Sadly, even after the unforgettable Champions League victories over Real Madrid, although the level of the club continues to grow, they will never put such a dependable, ruthless and special player on the field as Darijo Srna.
Brad Jones, breaking the lines
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