Srna notes a spring in Shakhtar's step
Tuesday 16 December 2008
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Darijo Srna in action for Shakhtar (©Getty Images)
Captain Darijo Srna told uefa.com FC Shakhtar Donetsk's autumn "crisis is over" and noted that they were unlucky to miss out on a UEFA Champions League last 16 place, blaming "lack of experience, concentration and bad luck".
Redeeming feature
Having won a domestic double in 2007/08, Shakhtar were brought back down to earth in the autumn, making a miserable start in the Ukrainian Premier League and falling short in the UEFA Champions League, with a run of three Group C defeats ensuring that the best they could manage was third place and a chance of redeeming themselves in the UEFA Cup in the spring.
Picked up
Results have picked up. They are unbeaten in eleven league games, with wins in the last five leaving them fifth in the table, while they signed off from Europe's top club competition with back-to-back Group C victories. "Our crisis is over," said Srna. "We had an unlucky period at the start of the season and were criticised, but we got through it and are now making amends."
Third place
Beating FC Basel 1893 and FC Barcelona in their final Group C fixtures was a bittersweet experience, with Srna adamant his side were stronger than section runners-up Sporting Clube de Portugal. "We should have gone through in the Champions League," said the Croatian. "We are better than Sporting but lack of experience, concentration and bad luck stopped us going further."
Spring offensive
The 26-year-old midfielder has already faced one "terrible disappointment" in 2008 with Croatia losing to Turkey in the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals, but he insisted let-downs like Shakhtar's autumn were valuable learning opportunities. However, most of all he thinks his side's 3-2 win against a second-string Barça side at Camp Nou can help put some sparkle into Shakhtar's spring offensive.
UEFA Cup target
"It was great to beat Barça at Camp Nou," he said. "It doesn't matter who lined-up for Barcelona. The most important thing is that we played really fantastically. Should we perform in this way in the UEFA Cup, we can go all the way to the final. Our aim is to win the UEFA Cup. We have enough strength and class to do this."
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