Golden debut
Saturday, April 11, 2020
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While football games have been suspended, we have been recalling all of Shakhtar's title-winning seasons
The 2004/05 season was the first for the Miners with Mircea Lucescu at the helm. Already in his debut league season, the Romanian coach led the team to the title glory, later spending 12 years at the club, winning 22 trophies and becoming the most successful coach in the history of Shakhtar.
Squad
Before the season start, some changes occurred not only in the coaching position but also the team squad was significantly updated. To differ from the period before Lucescu when only one Brazilian Brandao played for Shakhtar, in the summer of 2004 several more Latinos joined the club, including Matuzalem, Elano and Jadson. They aggregately scored 18 goals that league season, with each of them later being a key player at Shakhtar at different historical stages. The Orange-and-Blacks were also successful in signing some other foreigners: the Czech goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka immediately turned into a major keeper (22 apps, 13 mistakes), with his compatriot Tomas Hubschman (21 apps) and the Romanian Cosmin Barqueuan (19 apps) securing places in the starting XI.
Dominance
Shakhtar got off to a powerful league start: in the first round, through the goals by Lewandowski and Duljaj, they claimed a 2-0 away win vs Dynamo and produced an early winning streak of 9 consecutive victories. Having immediately taken the lead, the Miners never left the top position in the table, although the archrivals were separated by just a point.
The league campaign’s spring part was decisive. In March and early April, the Orange-and-Blacks again claimed 6 victories in a row, while the Dynamo team lost points on three occasions within the same period and could no longer reduce the deficit.
The round-29 away game vs Chornomorets became ‘golden’ for Mircea Lucescu’s men. The Miners were 4 points clear of the Kyiv outfit and could well win the league title early in case of victory. Even before the break, Tymoshchuk brought the Donetsk team in front, however, midway through the second half, the Odesa outfit levelled the scores. The victory was sealed by Matuzalem who scored one in the 76th minute. And in stoppage time, Belik set the final scoreline of 3-1.
Final chord
In the final round, the early champions Shakhtar hosted Dynamo in Donetsk. The standings did not affect the opponents’ motivation, with the teams delivering a really spectacular action. The Miners - through the goals by Belik and Jadson - secured the lead, with the precision shots by Rincon and Kleber making it level. The denouement came in the dying seconds with Jadson bringing the hosts a 3-2 win after Brandao’s assist.
Shakhtar won 26 out of 30 games, scoring 80 points (getting 7 points clear of Dynamo) and winning the gold medals in the Ukrainian Championship for the second time in their history!
Heroes
Mircea Lucescu was forming the champions team, relying on proven leaders. So, Shakhtar captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (25 apps, 4 goals) was recognized as the season’s best football player. Together with him, midfield was managed by the Serbs Zvonimir Vukic (27 apps) and Igor Duljaj (24 apps), with the young fullbacks Darijo Srna (22 apps) and Razvan Rat (20) racing up and down the flanks.
Brandao was recognized as Shakhtar’s top scorer (12 goals). Also, Julius Aghahowa (8) and Francelino Matuzalem (8) enjoyed a fruitful year. Jadson scored 6 goals in his debut season, Elano netted 4 goals. Ukrainian forwards also made their contribution: Oleksii Belik scored 5 goals, and Andriy Vorobei added another 4. By the way, it was Vorobei who made the most appearances in the 2004/05 Championship - 29.
Squad
Before the season start, some changes occurred not only in the coaching position but also the team squad was significantly updated. To differ from the period before Lucescu when only one Brazilian Brandao played for Shakhtar, in the summer of 2004 several more Latinos joined the club, including Matuzalem, Elano and Jadson. They aggregately scored 18 goals that league season, with each of them later being a key player at Shakhtar at different historical stages. The Orange-and-Blacks were also successful in signing some other foreigners: the Czech goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka immediately turned into a major keeper (22 apps, 13 mistakes), with his compatriot Tomas Hubschman (21 apps) and the Romanian Cosmin Barqueuan (19 apps) securing places in the starting XI.
Dominance
Shakhtar got off to a powerful league start: in the first round, through the goals by Lewandowski and Duljaj, they claimed a 2-0 away win vs Dynamo and produced an early winning streak of 9 consecutive victories. Having immediately taken the lead, the Miners never left the top position in the table, although the archrivals were separated by just a point.
The league campaign’s spring part was decisive. In March and early April, the Orange-and-Blacks again claimed 6 victories in a row, while the Dynamo team lost points on three occasions within the same period and could no longer reduce the deficit.
The round-29 away game vs Chornomorets became ‘golden’ for Mircea Lucescu’s men. The Miners were 4 points clear of the Kyiv outfit and could well win the league title early in case of victory. Even before the break, Tymoshchuk brought the Donetsk team in front, however, midway through the second half, the Odesa outfit levelled the scores. The victory was sealed by Matuzalem who scored one in the 76th minute. And in stoppage time, Belik set the final scoreline of 3-1.
Final chord
In the final round, the early champions Shakhtar hosted Dynamo in Donetsk. The standings did not affect the opponents’ motivation, with the teams delivering a really spectacular action. The Miners - through the goals by Belik and Jadson - secured the lead, with the precision shots by Rincon and Kleber making it level. The denouement came in the dying seconds with Jadson bringing the hosts a 3-2 win after Brandao’s assist.
Shakhtar won 26 out of 30 games, scoring 80 points (getting 7 points clear of Dynamo) and winning the gold medals in the Ukrainian Championship for the second time in their history!
Heroes
Mircea Lucescu was forming the champions team, relying on proven leaders. So, Shakhtar captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (25 apps, 4 goals) was recognized as the season’s best football player. Together with him, midfield was managed by the Serbs Zvonimir Vukic (27 apps) and Igor Duljaj (24 apps), with the young fullbacks Darijo Srna (22 apps) and Razvan Rat (20) racing up and down the flanks.
Brandao was recognized as Shakhtar’s top scorer (12 goals). Also, Julius Aghahowa (8) and Francelino Matuzalem (8) enjoyed a fruitful year. Jadson scored 6 goals in his debut season, Elano netted 4 goals. Ukrainian forwards also made their contribution: Oleksii Belik scored 5 goals, and Andriy Vorobei added another 4. By the way, it was Vorobei who made the most appearances in the 2004/05 Championship - 29.
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