Demianenko up for Dynamo double

Anatoli Demianenko could win his second major trophy in a week as FC Dynamo Kyiv look to wrap up the Ukrainian title at SC Tavriya Simferopol on Saturday.

Double celebration
The 46-year-old was celebrating the first trophy of his coaching career on Tuesday as Kleber scored the only goal of the Ukrainian Cup final victory against FC Metalurh Zaporizhya, and Dynamo could yet make it a truly unforgettable five days for Demianenko if they can do enough in Simferopol to end FC Shakhtar Donetsk's hopes of defending their title. Demianenko is no stranger to pressure having won a clutch of domestic trophies during his playing days with Dynamo as well as the 1985/86 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

No stranger
He also won the UEFA European Youth Championship and represented the USSR in the final of the 1988 UEFA European Championship. "I cannot explain how it feels," he said. "It is impossible to compare it to my successes as a player. I am just thankful to my lads for approaching the final with the right mentality. The most important thing for me was to motivate the guys. Fortunately, I managed to do that."

Motivational experience
Years of experience as a motivator have clearly served him well. After joining Dynamo in 1979, the defender became captain and oversaw a spell with saw the Kiev club win five Soviet titles and four Soviet Cups between 1981 and 1990. He returned to the club after a year abroad to win the first independent Ukrainian title in 1992. It was natural that Demianenko would join the coaching staff, and learned plenty from the likes of Jozsef Szabo, Valeriy Lobanovskiy and Leonid Buryak.

Flourished
Yet his time as a right-hand man ended abruptly in September 2005 when he was named as stand-in coach after Dynamo failed to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in nine years. Initially tipped to struggle in sole command, Demianenko flourished, leading his side to a run of 35 wins in 39 competitive and friendly games and taking them two points clear of arch-rivals Shakhtar - who face FC Chornomorets Odesa on Saturday - with two games of the season remaining.

Important test
"We won the cup, but the important part of the season is still to come," he said. "The team met up again just a few hours after the cup final having had some rest. We will celebrate later because now we have to win the two league games that decide everything. Dynamo always have high expectations." A Dynamo win on Saturday will be the cue for title celebrations should Shakhtar fail to beat Chornomorets. However, if that does not happen, the two giants of Ukrainian football will meet in a winner-takes-all tie in Donetsk on 10 May. Demianenko would love to go into that match with nothing but pride to lose.