Steering Shakhtar from out of the shadows

Bragging rights are important enough for fans, so imagine what they must be like for owners.

This is unlikely to be a happy week for either Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich, with their teams teetering on the edge of European elimination. The sniggers and smirks of their rivals round the roulette tables and by the yacht moorings scarcely bear thinking about.

Rinat Akhmetov, however, may permit himself a grin of quiet satisfaction. Before this season Shakhtar Donetsk were still an unknown quantity to many people, despite their Uefa Cup win three years ago.