FROM：the TIMES ,UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...-809243,00.html
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The Penalty Of Fame
September 15, 2003
As Andriy Shevchenko stepped forward to take what would be
the decisive penalty in last season’s European Cup final against
Juventus, his own short mantra was going through his head. “I
just repeated four words to myself, over and over,” he said. “
‘I will do it, I will do it, I will do it’. Then I hit the ball.
. .”
Last season had almost been one to forget for Shevchenko. The
AC Milan forward only scored five league goals and spent half his
time injured. All that changed at Old Trafford on May 28. “When
it went past Gigi Buffon in the Juventus goal, it was wonderful.
The emotions were incredible.”
The first person Shevchenko embraced after the decisive strike
was Kakha Kaladze, his team-mate and regular pool partner. The pair
grew up in the same Dynamo Kiev team and had finally fulfilled a
promise made to Valery Lobanovsky, their former coach. “He was the
most important part of this success and I would be nothing without
him,” Shevchenko said. “I promised him that I would score in a
Champions League final.”
Shevchenko had scored the away goal that beat Inter Milan in the
semi-final a year to the day after Lobanovsky died. Three days after
the final, he took the trophy to Kiev and placed it beside the statue
that stands in Lobanovsky’s honour outside the Dynamo stadium.
“He had a great personality and knew how to get the best out of
his players with discipline and trust,” Shevchenko explained. “He
taught me all the secrets of football — what to do not only in the
game, but also in and after training — and about the dangers in the
world outside football. Kakha and I both thought of him straight after
the final.”
Shevchenko spent the rest of the summer with his girlfriend, Kristin,
the couple splitting their time between Milan and Kiev while managing
a holiday in Miami. Three months after the dramatic climax to the
season, Shevchenko has had time to reflect on his achievement and
insists that last season was still better than his first two at the
club — despite him scoring 24 league goals in each previous campaign.
“Football is a team game, you cannot win anything on your own out
there. But I did score our first goal when we beat Real in the group
stages last season, so even though I was unlucky to get injured and
missed a few months, I rediscovered my form.”
Once he was fit, he became a victim of the rotation system employed
by Carlo Ancelotti, the Milan coach, but learnt to cope with it. “The
coach picked the players he thought were in the best form. My head
understands rotation but my heart wants to play every game.”
To prove there were no hard feelings, he gave Raul’s shirt to
Ancelotti after the win over Madrid. “I swapped with Raul but the
coach had also wanted his shirt. After all the criticism he had, he
deserved it. I didn’t mind at all — especially as we ended the
season winning the Champions League. I have dreamt about winning
something important since I was 9.”
That was when Shevchenko skipped school so he could practise
his skills. He encouraged his parents to leave the house so he
would chip a little ball at paintings and the mirror in the hallway
of their Dvirkivshchyna home. The mirror soon broke. The Shevchenko
family were forced to move to near Ukraine’s Black Sea coast after
the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. “We knew that something
terrible had happened,” he said, “but no one really told us anything
for about three years. I couldn’t stop thinking about the small
village next to Chernobyl whose people had to leave their houses in
the middle of the night without a single suitcase. If my goals can
help the world remember Chernobyl, I dedicate my success to them.”
Shevchenko signed for Dynamo aged 10. He made an immediate impact,
winning the Ian Rush Cup for being top scorer in his age group. The
reward was a pair of Rush’s boots. At 16, Shevchenko broke into the
Dynamo team and made his European debut a year later. He ended up
winning five league titles and three cups with Dynamo, but always
saved his best individual performances for Europe: scoring a hat-trick
away to Barcelona in 1997 and knocking out Real Madrid with two goals in
1999 (Dynamo lost in the semi-finals that year despite going 3-1 up
against Bayern Munich).
“I don’t know why, but I do seem to have a special relationship
with the Champions League,” Shevchenko said. “Maybe that’s why I
haven’t won the league in my four years with Milan. We sacrificed
Serie A last season to focus on our European campaign. Time will tell
whether this team can be as successful as the Milan of the late 1980s
that included Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten. In my
heart, I hope we can win even more.”
So will the league take priority over defending the Champions
League title this season? “I don’t know. We would like to win both
but during the season, I think we’ll see in which tournament we’ll
be more competitive. All I want from the coming season is to avoid
injuries and to score more than last year.
“My contract is up in 2005 and, though I haven’t spoken to the
club yet about an extension, there will be no problem because I want
to stay here. I’m ready to sign a blank contract. I want to go on
winning.”
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bravo bravo Sheva！
這篇訪問可以看看，
Sheva也有提及86年Chernobyl事件帶給他的影響...
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Van Basten + Gullit + Rijkaard
Sexy Football and Sexy Milan
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※ 編輯: blancha 來自: 140.112.227.79 (09/17 17:00)