Andriy Shevchenko’s career hit a new low on Monday night when the Chelsea striker was picked to play for the club’s reserve team, which means the striker, who cost the club $62 million in the summer of 2006, will not feature at all against Olympiakos in the Champions League second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Chelsea claims that Shevchenko is still recovering from injury even though the Ukrainian hadn’t been named to any official medical bulletins in the last two weeks. Shevchenko’s last appearance in the Premier League came during Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Boxing Day, a game in which he scored two goals. His last appearance as substitute came in the final 15 minutes against Huddersfield United in the FA Cup on Feb. 16.
When Jose Mourinho left Chelsea in September, many felt Shevchenko would get a second chance under new manager Avram Grant. Instead, the former AC Milan man has featured even less under the Israeli. The January arrival of Nicolas Anelka has served to make the Ukrainian an increasingly peripheral figure at Stamford Bridge, behind both Anelka and Didier Drogba in an attacking line that usually accommodates just one striker.