Kiev, Jun 04: AC Milan's Champions League hero Andriy Shevchenko, the scorer of their winning goal in the penalty shoot-out victory against Italian rivals Juventus, has brought the European Cup back to his native Ukraine. AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko was mobbed by adoring fans when he arrived on Thursday (June 3) in the Ukrainian captial Kiev carrying the Champions League trophy. The 26 year-old has told fellow Ukrainians the team's Champions League triumph over Italian rivals Juventus was also a victory for his country and Dynamo Kiev's late coach Valery Lobanovsky. Placing the European Cup on a bronze bench next to a statue of Lobanovsky, Shevchenko said it was his former coach's dream to win the cup and that he had brought it to Kiev so that he, and the country, could share in the victory. "It is not only my victory but the victory of the whole of Ukraine... A few years ago Dynamo Kiev were so close to playing in the final but it was to be the only cup (they) could not win under Valery Vasilyevich," he told a crowd of fans on Tuesday.


Lobanovsky died in May last year, aged 63, after suffering a stroke. Under his guidance, Dynamo reached the Champions League semi-finals in 1999 before losing to Bayern Munich.


"I think it was his (Lobanovsky's) big dream. Unfortunately, he is not here but I am so glad I have won it and he won it too," Shevchenko said.


The ex-Dynamo striker, who played in the team that reached the 1999 semi-finals, scored the decisive penalty in a shootout to give Milan a 3-2 win over Juventus in the Champions League final against Juventus, last Wednesday (May 28).


Bureau Report