The Real Andriy Shevchenko Stands Up (Finally)

By: Daryl | December 26th, 2007

Sheva stands up Chelsea fans (and Russian billionaires) finally got to see the real Andriy Shevchenko at Stamford Bridge today. In an absolute belter that finished Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa, Sheva scored two and made one and actually looked something like a £30 million striker. Villa took a shock 2-0 lead through two Shaun Maloney goals (one of which was a Petr Cech howler) but Shevchenko stroked home a penalty just before half-time after fellow former misfit Michael Ballack had been brought down. Then the second half was the Shevchenko show.

The Ukrainian hit a beautiful long range shot past Scott Carson to level the score. Villa gave him a bit of space just outside the box and Sheva looked up before firing an unstoppable strike into the top left corner. Soon afterwards, Shevchenko turned Gareth Barry and played a perfect ball through to Alex, who also fired past Carson.

There was more action to come, as Laursen leveled things at 3-3, Ballack scored what looked like an 88th minute winner with a free kick and Gareth Barry made it 4-4 with a 92nd minute penalty after Ashley Cole had handballed on the line. Cole got a red card for his goalkeeping attempt, and joined Ricardo Carvalho (who had tried to slice Gabriel Agbonlahor in half with studs up tackle ) and Zat Knight (who had brought Ballack down in the first half) in referee Phil Dowd’s naughty book.

Not a great result for Chelsea, because it leaves them another two points off the Premiership title pace, but with Drogba injured and/or away at the African Cup of Nations for the foreseeable future Avram Grant will be relieved to see both Ballack and Shevchenko finally deliver. The question now is whether Sheva did enough in this game to convince Grant he’s capable of leading the forward line through January and February.