UKRAINE manager Andriy Shevchenko is the football legend who has won it all – including the heart of a stunning American model.
The ex-Chelsea ace, who played for the Blues from 2006 to 2009, has led his country to a quarter-final place at Euro 2020, where they will take on England.
However, before that – when the now 44-year-old was starring in Italy for AC Milan in the early noughties – he was posing in saucy photoshoots for GQ Italia.
The 2004 Ballon d’Or winner is married to stunning American model, Kristen Pazik.
And the men’s lifestyle magazine came up with the genius idea to pair them together for a covershoot. Incidentally, it became GQ Italia’s biggest ever seller.
Pazik’s father Mike is also a MLB legend, having pitched for the Minnesota Twins in the 1970s and helped Kansas City Royals win the World Series in 2015 as their Major League scout.
MODEL MISSUS
Blonde bombshell Kristen, now 42, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is of Polish descent.
She met Shevchenko at a fashion show in Milan in the early 2000s, where he was one of the best players in the world.
The pair were instantly smitten, and they appeared topless on the front cover of the Italian version of GQ in a saucy photoshoot in 2003.
In the snaps the chemistry between them is seemingly electric, with Shevchenko draped across the semi-naked beauty.
Other images show a topless Sheva looking suggestively down the lens.
That issue is GQ Italy’s biggest seller of all-time, and put the super-couple on the map.
A year later Kristen, who boasts 276-inch pins, and Shevchenko married on a golf course in Washington DC.
They have four sons, including one boy – Kristian – who is on Chelsea’s books.
SHE LOVES CHELSEA
When Shevchenko was to be sold by AC Milan, both Manchester United and Chelsea declared their interest.
However, the forward’s wife reportedly helped her husband make his mind up.
Kristen was said to have become close to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s ex-wife Irina, who apparently whisked the beauty around Sloane Square’s glitzy designer boutiques.
Soon after, Shevchenko chose to move to West London, but he told Gazetta Sport that his wife wasn’t the deciding factor.
“My wife has nothing to do with this, we decided together for the best interests of our family,” he said.
“I don’t speak English, my wife does not speak Ukrainian – the only language we have in common at the moment is Italian.
“The only way to be able to teach our children our love that we have for them is the English language.”
At the turn of the year, Shevchenko was linked to the Chelsea job but lost out to Thomas Tuchel.
You can’t help think that one day he might just end up in the managerial seat at Stamford Bridge.
STRIKE IT LUCKY
Shevchenko isn’t the only sports star in his family. His father-in-law is a MLB legend.
Mike Pazik was a pitcher who was a first round draft pick by the New York Yankees in 1971.
He enjoyed three seasons at Minnesota Twins from 1975-77, then served as a pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox from 1995-98.
Pazik is currently working with the Kansas City Royals as a Major League scout.
In 2015, he helped the team win the World Series for only the second time in their history.
Will Shevchenko be able to channel his father-in-law’s winning mentality against England?
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
