Shevchenko: "My choice of No.7 is interesting; Milan are always in my heart"

AC Milan legend and former Ballon d’Or winner Andriy Shevchenko has revealed an interesting story about his arrival at the club.

Shevchenko scored 175 goals in 322 competitive appearances for the Rossoneri, and is widely regarded as one of the club’s best ever strikers.

He arrived at Milan back in 1999 for a then-record fee of €30million and went to win five trophies in his time at the club – one of which came in arguably his most memorable moment as he scored the winning penalty in the 2003 Champions League final against Juventus.

“I was very happy about my arrival at Milan, it was a special moment,” the Ukranian said.

“There is a nice story about my choice of number 7. I remember that Ibrahim Ba arrived, he said ‘If you want it, I’ll leave you this number’. I thanked him, he was perfect.

“Two days later a childhood friend of mine called me and told me: ‘You know that in Hebrew seven is called Sheva? I couldn’t believe it. He told me it would bring me luck and this happened.

“I have a special relationship with the people at Milan, they are always in my heart. The emotions I felt are indescribable. I remember the second year, goal after goal, Sunday after Sunday, at the San Siro there were more and more Ukrainian flags.

“I had goosebumps whenever the fans sang, these were special emotions.”