Shevchenko's place in doubt

Andriy Shevchenko, one of the world’s most prolific frontmen, could suffer the consequences of any striker who is not scoring goals by being dropped by his club, Milan AC, for their UEFA Cup fourth round first-leg visit to the Dutch side, Roda JC.

Floundering form
A season which promised so much for the Ukrainian has gone from bad to worse. After missing out on this summer’s FIFA World Cup finals when his national side were beaten by Germany in the play-offs, Shevchenko has seen Milan flounder this season in tandem with his own failing form.

Humiliating substitution
On Saturday he suffered the humiliation of being substituted in the goalless home draw against Atalanta BC and has now scored just two goals in the last eight league games as the former European champions have slumped to sixth place in Serie A.

No blame
But the Ukrainian striker refused to accept the blame for his club’s current malaise. "I looked at our game against Atalanta a couple of times and I thought to myself that I did as well as I could," he said. "Maybe that wasn’t very much but it was the best I can do, just at the moment."

Transfer talk
He scoffed at suggestions that his form might have something to do with his much-rumoured departure at the end of the season to Real Madrid CF. "One thing is clear, I’m not in bits, I’m not distracted, I’m not thinking about going to Real Madrid or anywhere else," he said. "But I am fed up with all the nonsense that people are saying about me."

Roda falling
Whatever the reason, Milan are struggling. They have now drawn six and lost two of their last eight league and Italian Cup games. Fortunately for them, their hosts at the Sportpark Kaalheide are in even worse form. Following last weekend’s Dutch league defeat to De Graafschap, they are 15th in the KPN Eredivisie, which is the lowest they have been in four years. Georges Leekens, their coach, said: "We create lots of chances, but scoring is our weakness so far. That has to be different against Milan. If we get two chances we must score at least one goal."

Milan expects
Fully aware of the two clubs’ quite different expectations, the former Belgian national coach added: "I think that [Milan] president Berlusconi won’t accept elimination by Roda, so we will try to give them a hard time. We respect them, but we won’t fear them."

Moreno moves in
If Shevchenko is dropped it is most likely that his place will be taken by the Spaniard Javi Moreno, who could line up alongside his compatriot José Mari. The Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti may feel, however, that without such notable individuals as Paolo Maldini, Massimo Ambrosini and Thomas Helveg all injury victims, it would be prudent not to deprive himself of yet another. The disappointing form after injury of their expensive Portuguese midfielder Manuel Rui Costa has not helped matters and he, too, could be stood down in favour of Andrea Pirlo, an Italy Under-21 player.

Dutch dilemma
As for Roda, they will be without Ivan Vicelich, Igor Tomasic and Fedrik Berglund because of injury or illness. "We are very pleased to meet one of the biggest teams in the world like AC Milan," said Leekens. "Our hope is that Milan will have an off-day, while we need to play the best we can. Only those circumstances will give us a chance to get a good result."