Ukraine banking on Shevchenko, says Voronin

Andriy Voronin says his old mate Steven Gerrard is one of the top players in Europe — and claims Ukraine need their own captain Andriy Shevchenko to be fit if Ukraine are to have any chance of beating England tomorrow.

Shevchenko is a major doubt for the crunch clash in Donetsk, having missed training last night with a knee injury, and a Ukraine official rated the country’s top scorer and national hero as doubtful.

Ukraine need to beat England to stay in the tournament they are co-hosting with Poland, who went out on Saturday. And former Liverpool midfielder Voronin knows how tough it will be against Gerrard and his England team-mates, who only need a draw to go through to the knockout stage.