The Three Lions' right-back urged his team-mates not to be fooled by the former AC Milan star's ageing legs or poor spell at Chelsea, insisting the forward still has many qualities
England defender Glen Johnson has called for his team-mates not to underestimate the skill of Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko – despite his ageing legs and an underwhelming spell with Chelsea.
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This could be Shevchenko's last game for Ukraine. If Oleg Blokhin's side fail to beat England, his glorious international career will be finished, and the dream he waited for, for five, long years, will be over.
Obviously, those thoughts should make 'Sheva' very dangerous. Just like against Sweden, he is desperate to be the big hero. No defender will be foolish enough to underestimate him after such a performance. The criticism he had to cope with during his time at Chelsea will make him even more motivated this time. |
Johnson was still at Stamford Bridge himself when the Ukrainian legend arrived from AC Milan for just over £30 million. However, the move didn’t go to plan as he only hit the back of the net nine times in 48 Premier League matches over three seasons (and 22 times in 77 appearances for the Blues in all competitions).
But now it is a different story altogether. After being loaned back to Milan for the 2008-09 season, he left Stamford Bridge and rejoined Dynamo Kiev in 2009. He has rediscovered his form and defied his critics to score both goals in his country's Euro 2012 win over Sweden.
England and Ukraine go head-to-head in Group D on Tuesday knowing that whoever wins is guaranteed a place in the next round of the competition.
Johnson spoke about Shevchenko, telling The Sunday Mirror: “Sheva’s a fantastic guy. He didn’t have the best part of his career when he was at Chelsea, but you don’t lose your quality overnight.
“He’s still one of the best strikers around. I rate him very highly. He was very genuine, although I don’t think he was too confident with his English – but he tried to join in with everything.
“Every player at the European Championship wants to be at his highest level, so I am sure he’ll be up for it against us.
“Everyone has ups and downs during their career, but, arguably, Sheva’s one of the best strikers around.
“We’ve been focusing on France and Sweden, but now we’ll look at the Ukraine and in Shevchenko they’ve got a national hero and a fantastic player.”
Meanwhile, England manager Roy Hodgson believes the Three Lions' enthralling triumph over Sweden has set them up perfectly for Tuesday’s group decider.
He said: “We are getting used to playing away from home. We played away against Sweden. Our very brave and enthusiastic 4,000 fans were being constantly shouted down by the 20,000 Swedes.
“That was very much an away game – now we must prepare for another.”
