The match had five red cards issued, two to Dynamo players and three to Shakhtar players. The match also had six yellow cards (Gladkiy received two), four of which were given to Shakhtar players and two to Dynamo players. This was in part because of players' violent behavior and also because referee Victor Shvetsov made several misjudgments.[2]
All 16 Ukrainian Premier League clubs do not have to go through qualification to get into the competition; Dynamo and Shakhtar therefore both qualified for the competition automatically.
Dynamo had a lot of instability en route to the final. At the beginning of the season, manager Anatoliy Demyanenko resigned after рoor results to start the season.[3] He was replaced by former Dynamo player and coach Yozhef Sabo, who later resigned from his post afterwards due to personal health problems. In November 2007, Dynamo appointed assistant coach Oleh Luzhny as interim coach, who was in charge until 8 December and managed to get Dynamo through the quarter-finals. Finally, in December 2008, the club appointed former Russia national team manager Yuriy Semin.[4]
44'
