Stop Shevchenko and City have a chance to progress

City have earmarked the former Chelsea striker as the dangerman ahead of their Europa League tie

Vincent Kompany, the Manchester City defender, has highlighted subduing Andriy Shevchenko as being key to overhauling Dynamo Kiev's two-goal lead in the Europa League tonight.

Once one of the most feared strikers in Europe, Shevchenko's career hurtled downhill during a dreadful spell at Chelsea.

He did not improve on returning to AC Milan for a season on loan.

However, it does appear his arrival back in Kiev two years ago has triggered a change in desire for the 34 year old. Shevchenko scored the opener in his side's 2-0 victory over City a week ago.

"Shevchenko seemed to be leading by example," Kompany said. "He was not just captain because of what he achieved in the past, he was one of the best players in their team."

Kiev did look perfectly set up to hit City on the counter-attack, raising obvious question marks about the hosts' ability to drag themselves back into the tie without conceding an away goal that could effectively finish them off.

"They caught us by surprise last week," Kompany said. "We knew they were a good team and we knew their strengths and weaknesses. But it was an away game in Ukraine. The conditions are very different and there was a lot of travelling. You have to adapt to that for a start. When you go on to the pitch, you don't know exactly how it is going to be. They did their job very well and we were unfortunate to have a bad day."

Elsewhere, Liverpool must also dig themselves out of trouble to make the quarter-finals. Kenny Dalglish's side are 1-0 down from the first leg at Portuguese side Braga. "European football and this football club are synonymous," he said. "We'd love that to continue."

* Press Association

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