Andriy Shevchenko has announced his retirement from International football. A statement was made by Shevchenko on Dynamo Kiev’s website confirming the news that the former Chelsea and AC Milan would be hanging up his boots with immediate effect.
Shevchenko started his career at Ukrainian powerhouse Dynamo Kiev, forcing his way into their first team squad at the age of 18 years old.
Soon after Shevchenko established himself as a first team regular and a deadly strike partnership between him and Sergei Rebrov formed. Shevchenko and Rebrov both scored at a rate of more than 1 goal in 2 games, but Shevchenko’s composure, movement and finishing ability stood out above his counterpart and earned the Ukrainian a move to Europe before Rebrov, signing up for European giants AC Milan.
Still unproven on the biggest stage of football, Shevchenko’s initial £20 million price tag raised eyebrows with many believing the transfer to be an unnecessary risk. Milan already had two established international centre forwards in George Weah and Oliver Bierhoff at the time of Shevchenko’s arrival, but he forced his way straight into the first team finishing his first season as Milan’s top scorer with 29 goals in all competitions to his name and holder of the Serie A golden boot.
A mediocre 2000/01 season followed for AC Milan with the Rossoneri struggling to sixth position in Serie A, although Shevchenko avoided criticism having scored over 20 goals for the second successive season. The hitman eventually picked up his first piece of team silverware in 2002/03 winning the biggest club trophy of the lot, The Champions League.
Having struggled for goals throughout the tournament, Shevchenko’s partner Filipo Inzaghi had taken a large chunk of the weight of responsibility from Shevchenko’s shoulders, picking up 10 tournament goals. However when it came down to penalties, with the scores tied at 2-2 in the shootout, Shevchenko stepped up to slot away the winning penalty showing the nerves of steel that have been displayed throughout his career.
In 2003/04 AC ended their 5 year domestic trophy drought winning the Serie A title to add to Andriy’s list of achievements. In that season Shevchenko proved to be a constant goal threat and by the end of 2004 he was recognised for his achievements, being announced as European Player of the Year ahead of Barcelona’s Deco and Ronaldinho.
Sadly Shevchenko failed to prove himself to the English football fans and will probably be most well known in this country for his penalty miss in the 2004/05 Champions League final against Liverpool. Unlike two years previously, Shevchenko’s penalty did not make it past the goalkeeper, on this occasion Jerzy Dudek, when Milan needed to score to stay in the final.
A move to Chelsea in the summer of 2006 followed with Roman Abramovich a long term admirer of the striker. At the age of 30 year sold, a £30 million price tag piled the pressure on and Shevchenko failed to hit the heights of his Milan career, earning regular criticism from pundits and fans. Just 9 goals in 46 games followed and he was shipped back on loan to Milan just two years after signing for the club.
His other former club Dynamo Kiev finally brought an end to the strikers Chelsea nightmare by bringing him back to Ukraine for his final swansong. Despite featuring regularly for Kiev and providing extra firepower to their attack, he couldn’t help them to the league title in his second spell, with Shakthar’s Ukrainian league dominance proving the barrier.
Shevchenko has had an illustrious career, accumulating transfer fees that add up to over £50 million. An impressive feat for a 3 club player. His goal scoring record will be hard for strikers of Milan, Kiev and Ukraine to replicate even if his Chelsea experience ended in disappointment. He now moves into the Ukrainian political ring, desperate to make a difference.
If he can transfer his commitment, desire and hunger shown on the football pitch to his new profession, who knows, maybe we could be looking at a future Ukrainian leader?
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