Shevchenko on Ancelotti’s Milan: ‘You could make two sides and play a final’
MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 02: Andriy Shevchenko inducted into the hall of fame prior to the Serie A match between AC Milan and FC Internazionale at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 02, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Andriy Shevchenko turned 50 on Tuesday, and marked it by looking back on the years that made him a Milan great.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, with quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, the Ukrainian said the ambition was clear from the day he arrived. “From the start of my career, especially when I signed for Milan, I understood the importance of the club I was playing for. My thought was to leave something of my own in the history of this club and write a few small pages in the history of football.”
Shevchenko: ‘Every training session felt like a battle’
He arrived at San Siro in 1999 from Dynamo Kyiv, where Valeriy Lobanovskyi had shaped him. “Discipline and organisation. He had incredible discipline, it was a work culture. When you have that organisation you get used to being punctual, precise, to looking after details.”
What he found in Milan was a squad with the same appetite. “There were many champions and many good people. Many intelligent people. When you have a group of people hungry to win, with great talent, you quickly create a group with a real relationship between friends and team-mates. The training sessions were competitive and difficult. Every session almost felt like a battle.”
Carlo Ancelotti was the coach through the best of it, and Shevchenko was only half joking about the job he had. “It was easy to coach that Milan,” he laughed. “I don’t want to take anything away from Carlo, but he said it himself. There were 20 players good enough for a big team. You could make two sides and play a final.”
Shevchenko: ‘My connection with Milan is very strong’
The bond has not faded. “My connection with Milan is very strong. I think every player who played for Milan has a special bond that goes beyond just being a former player. Whoever played here was used to winning, you always won. It’s a particular club, but above all it has fans who give something extra. San Siro, the pressure, the crowd, they make this club very special.”
Shevchenko scored 175 goals in 322 appearances across two spells, won the 2003 Champions League, a Scudetto, a Coppa Italia, the European Super Cup and the Supercoppa Italiana, and took the Ballon d’Or in 2004. He also credited Alberto Zaccheroni, his first Italian coach, with reshaping how he thought about the game.
Asked what he wants remembered, he looked past the trophies.
“People mostly remember the good moments, the important matches, the goals in the finals we played, the things we won. I think I always tried to give my maximum in football during my life. I want people to remember that about me. I had difficult moments too, but it wasn’t just a job, it was much, much more.”
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