Shevchenko urged to keep his focus
The Ukrainian hitman, voted Europe’s top player in 2004, was honoured at a ceremony in Paris this week for his incredible goalscoring achievements that led the Rossoneri to the Scudetto last season.
Shevchenko has not lost his golden touch this term, and 11 goals in Serie A have helped Milan maintain their title challenge.
They go into this weekend’s game at Juventus four points behind leaders Juventus.
Buffon, who collected the most votes out of the Italians in the race for the European Player of the Year award, said: “I can only congratulate Shevchenko for being handed the Golden Ball award because I believe he has truly deserved it. I just hope that the thoughts that have gone through his mind this week may have distracted him. After all, he is human so maybe he will relax a little.
“It will be up to us to know if we will have a great Christmas, an average Christmas or a Christmas which isn’t as happy.
“A victory will put us seven points clear which psychologically would be very important, but if the opposite happened it would notbe such a blow because we would have the Christmas break to recover.”
Shevchenko knows he can not afford to lose his focus. “I know I have to forget about it and concentrate on continuing to play as I have been and help the team.”
He did say, however, that he and his team-mates should not put too much pressure on themselves as the game “will not be a decider.”
Milan have had some struggles this season but they appear to be hitting form and last week warmed up for the showdown at the Stadio Delle Alpi with a 6-0 humiliation of Fiorentina. The Rossoneri won in Turin last year on their march to the title.
What makes the prestigious clash even more interesting is both coaches have been at the helm of the opposition.
Juventus boss Fabio Capello established his winning reputation at Milan, where he won domestic and European honours while Carlo Ancelotti failed to achieve success with the Bianconeri, but has a European crown and a Scudetto triumph to show for his two seasons with the San Siro club.
“We have no obligation to win this game,” Ancelotti said. All I know is that we must play well. It’s not a decisive game but it can certainly put us on the path to the Scudetto.”
The importance of this game has not been lost on the fans as the Stadio Delle Alpi, which is normally half-empty, is already a sell-out.
Capello is set to play with the same formation that beat Bologna 1-0 last weekend, with the exception of Manuele Blasi who replaces Stephen Appiah in midfield. The coach does have to decide who to play alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack, with Alessandro Del Piero and Marcello Zalayeta available. Ancelotti is set to pair the in-form Hernan Crespo in attack alongside Shevchenko, and they will be supported by Brazilian talent Kaka.
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