Shevchenko ended up at “Milan” thanks to a VHS tape — media outlets recalled “Sheva’s” move to Italy
Kyiv • UNN
“Milan” scouts missed Shevchenko’s hat-trick against “Barcelona” and ordered a VHS recording from Mediaset. The video helped finalize the transfer in 1999.
Andriy Shevchenko’s transfer to "Milan" took place thanks to a VHS tape from the Mediaset newsroom. Scouts from the Italian club were not present at the famous match against "Barcelona", in which the Ukrainian striker scored a hat-trick, so the sporting director had to order a video recording of the game from journalists, after which the Italian club completed the transfer. Sportmediaset writes, as reported by UNN.
Details
According to the publication, Shevchenko made it to "Milan" not only because of his hat-trick against "Barcelona" in the Champions League, but also because of the publication’s newsroom.
"Ariedo Braida, who was the sporting director of "Milan" at the time, wrote down in his notebook the name of that exceptionally fast striker from Kyiv's "Dynamo". And on November 5, 1997, Shevchenko did something phenomenal at Camp Nou: a sensational hat-trick against Louis van Gaal’s "Barcelona", which they thrashed 4–0," the publication notes.
However, it later emerged that there were no "Milan" scouts in Catalonia during the match, and Braida then contacted the newsroom.
"Braida contacted the Mediaset newsroom, which at that time held the rights to broadcast the Champions League, and ordered a VHS tape recording of this extraordinary game. Shevchenko was subsequently watched live, and Braida convinced President Berlusconi to invest 45 billion lire ($24 million) to bring him to Milan in the summer of 1999. It seemed like a huge sum, but in fact it was not," the publication adds.
Additional information
In the 1997/1998 season, "Dynamo" were drawn in the same Champions League group as "PSV", "Newcastle", and "Barcelona".
In the matches against "Barça", most fans backed the Spanish team, but a Kyiv supporter did not lose hope. When asked, "But it is still "Barcelona", isn’t it?" he replied: "And we are "Dynamo" Kyiv—so what?".
And indeed, in the two-leg tie, "Dynamo" left "Barcelona" in tatters, defeating the Catalans by an aggregate score of 7–0. It was in the second match that Andriy Shevchenko, who is celebrating his 50th birthday today, produced his breakthrough. It was "Sheva" who scored a hat-trick against "Barça" in the second match, while the team featured such world football stars as Víctor Baía, Luís Figo, and Rivaldo, and Serhii Rebrov delivered the final blow to the Catalans.