Shakhtar's 2019 double: what the title and cup meant
A look back at how Donetsk's Shakhtar closed out Ukraine's 2018–2019 football season with a league and cup double.
What did Shakhtar's spring of 2019 add up to? By 20 May 2019, the Donetsk club had secured both of the season's major domestic trophies, and the league title had already been settled a day earlier.
On 15 May 2019, Shakhtar beat Inhulets in the final of the 2018–2019 Ukrainian Cup, taking the trophy for the 13th time. Four days later, on 19 May 2019, the club became champion of Ukraine for 2018–2019 ahead of schedule, winning the championship for the 12th time.
The sequence is notable for its speed. The cup was won first, and the league was decided before the season's final fixtures had been played. Inhulets, the cup finalist, did not stop Shakhtar from adding the trophy to its tally.
Taken together, the two results gave the club a domestic double within a span of five days. The counts of 12 league titles and 13 cup wins show how often the trophies had gone to Donetsk by that point.
