At last, the European Championships are upon us. All teams have now played at least once, and we have seen a host of current Premier League stars. But for every one of these Prem players strutting their stuff in Poland and Ukraine, there’s plenty who didn’t quite make it in England’s top flight. If nothing else, the Euro’s are proof that there is indeed life after the Premier League.
Russia’s impressive opening day win over the Czech Republic highlighted this. Andrey Arshavin, sometimes heavily criticised during his spell with Arsenal and now on loan at Zenit St Petersburg, captained the Russian’s to this monumental 4-1 victory as well as setting up 2 of the goals. There are still question marks over his ability to play the full 90 minutes but his impact for the first 75 at least is huge. He looks the kind of player that Arsenal would try to sign, not farm out on loan back to Russia.
And Arshavin wasn’t the only Russian to prove that there is life after the Premier League. Roman Pavlyuchenko came off the bench to show Tottenham fans exactly what they’re missing. Pavlyuchenko came on to score an impressive solo effort past Petr Čech and also made an appearance on Tuesday against Poland.
Pavlyuchenko was impressive in spells during his time at Spurs but found himself firmly down the pecking order during his final season behind the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe and Rafael van Der Vaart before a January switch back to Russia. But while Pavlyuchenko was somewhat of a ‘forgotten man’ at Spurs, that’s nothing compared to the lone striker in Portugal’s opening game.
Does anybody remember Hélder Postiga? He signed for Spurs in an £8million move from Porto in 2003. After a largely unsuccessful spell where he only scored one league goal for Spurs in his debut season, Postiga moved back to Porto in 2004. But not before he helped Portugal dump England out of Euro 2004, scoring in normal time and again in the penalty shoot out. He also found the net at Euro 2008 and is Portugal’s 10th highest goal scorer of all time.
Postiga, now of Real Zaragoza, is back in the Euro’s and started Portugal’s opening game against Germany and Wednesday’s against Denmark. He was heavily criticised by the press for his performance in the opener but this is nothing he wouldn’t already be used to from his time in England. Portugal coach Paulo Bento kept faith with the former Spurs man and it was repaid when Postiga found the net in the vital 3-2 win over Denmark.
Although it may seem like a long time ago now, Czech Republic striker Milan Baroš was actually the leading goal scorer of Euro 2004. This prompted a high profile move to Liverpool which didn’t quite pan out, largely down to intermittent form and competition for places from the likes of Michael Owen and Djibril Cissé.
Unsuccessful spells at Aston Villa and Portsmouth followed but Baros is still on the international scene with the Czech’s, and their progression in Euro 2012 will depend largely on the form of the Galatasaray hitman.
Before Manchester City had the millions that their wealthy owner provides, before they were seen as one of the country’s biggest clubs, and before they could rely on the galactico-style attack of Agüero, Tévez, Balotelli and the like...they had Georgios Samaras(!)
The Greek target man failed to set the Premier League alight, scoring 8 goals in his 2 seasons at City. He has since plied his trade in the SPL with Celtic, winning the Scottish league twice, and has been an ever present in Greece’s Euro 2012 campaign so far.
Liverpool fans may remember the quickly identifiable blonde pony tail of Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin. Unfortunately, aside from his flowing locks, Voronin offered little for the Kop to get excited about during his three years in the Premier League, scoring just 5 goals.
Voronin’s 8 goals in 73 games at International level is also not that impressive, but he won a lot of praise for the amount of ground he covered in the Ukraine’s first ever European Championship game (and win) on Monday night. And his new haircut probably hasn’t hurt matters either. With a game against England still to come, Voronin has the perfect opportunity to silence any doubters he (probably) still has on Merseyside.
Still, Voronin’s achievements have been dwarfed somewhat by that of his fellow countryman, Andriy Shevchenko. A Champions League winner and European player of the year at AC Milan, he never hit the same heights with his subsequent move to Chelsea. The then ‘world’s most expensive player’ did manage 22 goals in his 77 games for Chelsea. But, hampered by injuries, he was loaned back to Milan before signing permanently for Dynamo Kiev.
Now back for one last dance on Europe’s biggest stage, local hero Shevchenko gave everyone something else to remember him by, with his brace giving the Ukraine that 2-1 win over Sweden. A great night for the Ukraine. Their hero, who it was feared was only taken to the Euro’s as a good will gesture, proving the doubters wrong. Proving that, at least on one night, he could still cut it on the big stage.
At 35 years of age this will surely by Shevchenko’s last major tournament, but maybe he’s not quite finished yet. Maybe there’s more to come....
He’s certainly given England something to be wary of and has critics in this country still to be silenced. It’s almost written in the stars for him to put England to the sword. But then the same could be said for Postiga, Pavlyuchenko and the rest.
Proof then, that there is life after the Premier League. Remember these men when you’re calling for the head of one of your teams current under-performers. One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure.