Euro 2012: Magnificent Andriy Shevchenko

Yesterday, Rafael Nadal became the first man to win 7 French Open titles beating the record he previously held with Bjorn Borg. The LA Kings won their first ever Stanley Cup by beating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 to take the series 4-2. England got their European campaign off to a solid start with spirited draw with France. None of those headlines are going to make a dent in the local Ukrainian papers though. That honour is reserved for one man and one man alone... Andriy Shevchenko. Rightly so I might add! The man who lives and breathes Kiev was only 9 when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred. His village was affected by the disaster and his family was forced to abandon their home and relocate to the coast to escape the after-effects. After that football almost lost him again, this time to boxing. At an early age he was a competitive boxer in the LLWI Ukrainian junior league but I guess his passion for chasing a football around a pitch won out over getting punched in the face. He joined the Dynamo Kiev youth team as 10 year old and quickly progressed to the first team winning the Ukrainian league title in each of his first 5 years as a pro. His finishing was lethal and was partnered with searing pace so it was no surprise when AC Milan broke the bank to take him to the San Siro. At Milan he became a legend striking fear into the heart of every defender he played against. His blistering pace and eye for goal netted him a return of 175 goals in 296 games making him the second highest scorer in Milan's history. The highlight of his Milan undoubtedly career came at Old Trafford in 2003 when he scored the winning penalty in the shootout against Juventus to help Milan win their sixth European title and thus making him the first ever Ukrainian born player to win the Champion's League. A year later he was picking up the Ballon d'Or becoming only the third Ukrainian to win it and the first since Ukraine became an independent country. Click "next" to read part 2...