Shakhtar beat Werder Bremen 2-1 after extra time in the Istanbul final to win their first European trophy in the last season of the UEFA Cup.

Now Lucescu has his sights firmly set on the Champions League, and believes success there is becoming a realistic target for clubs like his given their high-spending backers.

"Impressive funds are being invested in football in Eastern Europe," he said, pointing also to last year's UEFA Cup winners, Zenit St Petersburg.

"Zenit, CSKA (Moscow), Galatasaray - I think these clubs have a future in the Champions League."

Lucescu believes last night's success serves to further demonstrate the rise of football in Ukraine, a cause he hopes can be further boosted if the country is able to prove it can carry out its duties as co-host of Euro 2012 alongside Poland.

"Ukraine's biggest challenge is to play hosts to the European Championship and to conduct it on a decent level," he said.

"But the challenge that the (domestic) coaches are facing is to create an image for their teams. If we manage it - European football shall benefit from it."

Lucescu admitted that the level of domestic football has previously held Eastern Europe's clubs back when it came to competing on the continental stage, but that is now changing, he said.

"The level of the Ukrainian league has risen," he said. "It can easily compete with other European leagues."

Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf believes his side would have been a different prospect had Diego been available.

Instead, the coach was left to rue his Brazilian playmaker's needless suspension, brought about by a yellow card for pushing in the semi-final.

"We had such big plans but could not put them into practice," said Schaaf.

"We noticed that we do not have a player who can replace Diego."

That is a problem Bremen will need to address with Diego on his way out of the club this summer.

Director of sport Klaus Allofs refused to pin the reason for the defeat on the Brazilian's absence, but admitted that the rest of the team had not played as well as they can.

He said: "We played below our standards against a strong opponent and we had too many players who were unable to call upon their true potential."

After dealing with the disappointment of last night's defeat in Istanbul, Bremen now turn their attention to the DFB-Pokal final against Bayer Leverkusen on May 30.

That now presents their only chance of obtaining any silverware this season after a disappointing campaign in the Bundesliga, where they will finish 10th no matter how they fare against league leaders Wolfsburg on Saturday.

And the speculation surrounding coach Thomas Schaaf's future is bound to increase, even if the coach, who is being linked with a move to Wolfsburg next season, would not comment on the rumours last night.