The legendary forward of the Ukrainian national team, and now the president of UAF Andriy Shevchenko, spoke about the possibility of missing the Euro 2012 match against Sweden (2:1).
"I was already finishing my career. I knew this was my last swan song. The last, very important step in my life. I wanted to close the door very loudly. I was waiting for this European Championship. It was held in Ukraine. The first match at my home stadium, in front of my family. My family and my children came.
My back was hurting a lot. For the last six months, I had hardly played even. I started playing in the last month. The preparation for the European Championship began. We went to the training camp with the team. The training camp went well, I started to regain my form here. We returned to Kyiv, and literally a couple of days before the game, I had a relapse, my back was completely paralyzed. I could hardly train.
We went out for training. I walked a bit, approached the head coach and said: “I need to rest”. We had a day before the game. I got up, called my friend and said: “Look, I want to tell you that I probably won’t be able to play in this match. My back is not getting better”.
He told me: “I have a person who can help you”. Let me try to get in touch with him”. I agreed. We worked with him for 4 hours.
The morning before the game. We were going for a walk. I got up, and it was like I was reborn. I hadn’t had that feeling in my back for 5–6 years, that everything was released. I approached Blokhin and said: "Everything is fine, I will play,”— quotes Shevchenko the Telegram channel “Vzbіrna”.