Italy Face Familiar Threat in Ukraine Quarter-final

Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko ended his seven-year stay with AC Milan just last month and admitted he will have mixed feelings about trying to knock his adopted country out of the tournament.

"I spent seven wonderful years in Italy and I owe the country a lot, but now I have to play against them in the most important soccer match in the history of Ukraine," said the 29-year-old who joined English champions Chelsea last month.

"The Italy squad is packed with talented players, many of whom are my former teammates, who I'll now have to play against. Italy are the favorites, but the important thing for us is to play as a solid unit and with enough heart to make up for what we may lack in technique."

Ukraine's comeback

Ukraine were written off after starting their first World Cup campaign with a 4-0 defeat against Spain.

But after the hammering, they bounced back to crush Saudi Arabia by the same score and then qualified for the last 16 by edging out Tunisia 1-0. Ukraine set up a last eight clash with the Azzurri by winning a penalty shoot-out against Switzerland after a drab goalless game.

Shevchenko, a former European Footballer of the Year, put Ukraine's poor start down to nerves.

"Unfortunately we were hesitant that afternoon because it was our debut in the World Cup," he said. "We then began to believe in ourselves and slowly but surely things have improved."

Shevchenko joined AC Milan from Dynamo Kiev for the start of the 1999-00 season. Most forwards need time to adjust to the close marking in Serie A, but "Sheva," as he's known in Italy, made an immediate impact, scoring 24 goals in 32 league appearances in his first season.

In total, Shevchenko netted 127 goals in 208 Serie A matches for AC Milan.

Italy say not just luck on their side

Italy reached the quarter-finals thanks to Francesco Totti's last-gasp penalty against Australia, despite playing for almost the entire second half with 10 men following the dismissal of Marco Materazzi.

The three-time champions have been far from convincing on their way to the last eight, but Azzurri captain Fabio Cannavaro insisted his side were there on merit.

"It annoys me when people say that we are lucky," he said. "Against Australia we had six or seven opportunities to score, and people still say we were lucky. It was Australia who were lucky because they had 11 men against 10."

With Alessandro Nesta still nursing a groin strain and Materazzi suspended for one match, Palermo's Andrea Barzagli is expected to start alongside Cannavaro at the heart of Italy's defence.

Italy's players were stunned on Tuesday by the news of former international Gianluca Pessotto's apparent suicide attempt. Pessotto played for Juventus for 11 years before retiring last month and becoming team manager.

He made 22 appearances for Italy. The 35-year-old played alongside many of the current Italian team at club and international level.

Italy have played the Ukraine on three previous occasions. They beat them home and away in qualification matches for the 1996 European championships and the teams played out a goalless draw in a friendly only last month.