Saturday, July 30, 2011

Andriy Shevchenko

Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko ( 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian footballer who plays for Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukraine national team as a striker. He is the third-highest scorer in the history of European club competition with 67 goals as of 2011-03-10, behind Filippo Inzaghi and Raúl. He is also the all-time top scorer of the Derby della Madonnina (derby between A.C. Milan and their local rivals Internazionale) with 14 goals[2] and Ukraine national football team with 45 goals.
Shevchenko's career has been highlighted by many awards, the most prestigious of which was the Ballon d'Or in 2004 (becoming the third Ukrainian, after Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov to receive it). He won the UEFA Champions League in 2003 with Milan, and he has also won various league and cup titles in Ukraine, Italy, and England.
In his illustrious international career, the striker led the Ukraine national football team as captain to the quarterfinals in their first ever FIFA World Cup appearance in 2006.
In 1999, Shevchenko joined Italian club A.C. Milan for a then-record transfer fee of $25 million. He made his league debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2–2 draw with Lecce. Alongside other 5 players (Michel Platini, John Charles, Gunnar Nordahl, Istvan Nyers and Férénc Hirzer) he managed, as a foreign player, to win the Serie A scoring title in his debut season, finishing with 24 goals in 32 matches. Shevchenko maintained his excellent form into 2000-01 season, scoring 24 goals in 34 matches. Andriy also managed to score 9 goals in 14 matches in the Champions League, however Milan failed to get past the second group stage.
Despite netting only five times in 24 matches, mainly due to injuries, Shevchenko became the first Ukrainian-born player to win the Champions League after Milan lifted their sixth trophy in 2002–03. He scored the winning penalty in the shoot out against arch-rivals Juventus in the final, which had ended goalless after extra time. He finished top goalscorer in Serie A (2003–04) for the second time in his career, scoring 24 goals in 32 matches as Milan won the Scudetto for the first time in five years. He also scored the winning goal in the UEFA Super Cup victory over F.C. Porto, leading to Milan's second trophy of the season. In August 2004, he scored three goals against S.S. Lazio as Milan won the Italian Super Cup. Shevchenko capped off the year by being named the 2004 European Player of the Year, becoming the third Ukrainian player ever to win the award after Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov. In the same year, Shevchenko was also inducted into the FIFA 100.
He scored seventeen goals in the 2004–05 season after missing several games with a fractured cheekbone. Shevchenko made Champions League history the following season; on 23 November 2005, he scored all four goals in Milan's 4–0 group-stage drubbing of Fenerbahçe, becoming only the fifth player to accomplish this feat (his company includes Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo and Ruud van Nistelrooy; Lionel Messi joined that group in the 2009–10 season as well) and the only one to have done it in an away game. Milan eventually lost the tournament when Shevchenko missed the crucial penalty in the final against Liverpool. In the 2005–06 season, he scored his last Milan goal in the second leg of the quarter–finals as they eliminated Lyon after a last-minute comeback in a 3–1 victory.In the semi–finals, Milan lost to eventual winners Barcelona 1–0, a match where Shevchenko controversially had a last minute equalizer denied by the referee. Despite this, he still ended up being the top scorer of the whole competition with 9 goals in 12 games.
On 8 February 2006, he became Milan's second highest all-time goalscorer, behind Gunnar Nordahl, after netting against Treviso.He finished the season as joint 4th top scorer with 19 goals in 28 games. Shevchenko ended his seven year stint with A.C. Milan with 173 goals in 296 games.
Andriy Shevchenko is a Ukrainian footballer
Andriy Shevchenko as a striker
Shevchenko has 100 caps and 45 goals for the Ukrainian national team, whom he represented at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in May 1996, in a friendly against Turkey.
In March 2000, Dynamo manager Valeri Lobanovsky became the Ukraine coach, with the aim to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. Shevchenko scored 10 goals in the qualifiers, but Ukraine failed to qualify after losing a play-off against Germany. He scored a total of five goals in Ukraine's Euro 2008 qualifying round.
After only playing two games for Milan in the 2008-2009 season, there was a lot of speculation of Shevchenko being past his best[ the silenced his critics after scoring an equaliser in an 2010 World Cup qualifying match against England at the Wembley Stadium, however Ukraine went on to lose the game 2–1 after his former Chelsea teammate John Terry had scored from a free kick delivered by David Beckham.
In a 21 December 2009 interview with UEFA Shevchenko declared that he was keen to play in his home country at Euro 2012. "After a disappointing 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign that is my new challenge, or even dream. I will do everything to achieve that."

Andriy Shevchenko

Andriy Shevchenko on Competition

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