|
ANDRIY SHEVCHENKO
|
|
PICTURES |
PROFILE |
BIOGRAPHY |
AWARDS |
LINKS |
CONTACT |
| |
 |
|
SHEVCHENKO WITH AC MILAN |
|
|
 In 1999 Shevchenko joined the then 5-time
European Cup champions AC Milan for $26 million and has been
one of their key players since.
Shevchenko made his Serie A debut on August 28, 1999 in a 2-2
draw with Lecce. The season turned out to be extremely fruitful
personally, Shevchenko's haul of 24 league goals in 32 matches
earned him the highest scorer title in the Serie A, Andriy
becoming, in the process, the first non-Italian player to do so
in his debut season. In March 2000, Lobanovsky was made the
Ukrainian national team manager, with the aim to take Ukraine to
the 2002 World Cup. Shevchenko scored 10 goals in the qualifiers,
but Ukraine failed to qualify after losing the playoff against
Germany, and Lobanovsky was sacked.
The next two seasons Shevchenko scored 34 goals in 51 matches,
and 17 goals 38 matches respectively, in all competitions, but
Milan could not win any silverware either season.
The disappointment of the past two seasons was overcome in
2002-03 as Milan won the Champions League as well as the Italian
Cup. Though Shevchenko was not in top goal-scoring form in the
league, netting only five times in 24 matches, he scored the
winning penalty in the Champions League final against arch-rivals
Juventus, giving Milan the title. Shevchenko is the first
Ukrainian ever to win the Champions League.
2003-04 was another successful season for both Milan and
Shevchenko. He top scored in the league for the second time in
his career, scoring 24 goals in 32 matches and taking Milan to
the league title after a gap of four years. He also scored the
winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup against FC Porto, Milan
winning the match 1-0, and their second trophy of the season.
In December of 2004 Shevchenko was named the European Footballer
of the Year. He was also named by Pelé as one of the top 125
greatest living footballers in March 2004. Also in 2004,
Shevchenko was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by former
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.
In August 2004, Andriy scored three goals against Lazio in the
Italian Super Cup and earned Milan the title. In the same season
of 2004-05, the club finished second in league standings, helped
by the seventeen goals of Shevchenko. They also reached the
final of the Champions League, with him scoring six goals in ten
matches. But the successes of the season were greatly dampened
in the final. The game against Liverpool ended 3-3 after
extra-time, and went into penalties. Shevchenko missed his spot-kick,
giving the English side the title.
In October 2005, Ukraine finally managed to qualify for the
finals of a World Cup when they topped their qualification group
for the 2006 World Cup, winning seven games out of twelve, and
losing only one. Shevchenko was instrumental in this inspired
performance by the team, scoring six goals out of the total
eighteen by Ukraine.
During the summer of 2004 there were reports that Roman
Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea, offered a record sum of £50
million and striker Hernán Crespo to A.C. Milan in exchange for
Andriy. Milan refused but took Crespo on loan. After that, the
determined Abramovich was rumoured to offer another record sum
of £85 million to AC Milan and another record weekly wage of
£225,000 to transfer him to Chelsea, but was again refused.
In the 2005-06 season, Shevchenko has scored 19 goals in the 22
games that he has played in the league till now, and 8 goals in
7 Champions League matches. On November 23, 2005, in the
Champions League group stage match against Fenerbahçe,
Shevchenko scored four times, becoming only the fifth man after
Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pro and Ruud van
Nistelrooy to do so in one match in the competition. Shevchenko
also led the Ukrainian national team to its first qualification
for the World Cup, to take place in June 2006.
On Club records, he is the second all-time goalscorers, behind
AC Milan legend Gunnar Nordahl (Feb 2006, vs Treviso)
Sheva was voted world greatest player in 2005, beating Thierry
Henry and Ronaldinho.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
