Football often has the wonderful ability to create a narrative even before a ball is kicked. A confluence of forces can unexpectedly produce a story rich with history, even when it didn’t seem possible.
Case and point is Serie A’s Sunday night fixture between Genoa and Roma. Now, ordinarily this game is just another in the calendar, there’s no great rivalry between the pair, no lingering bitterness from controversial decisions, no title challenges. Roma operate on one plain; Genoa on another. There’s little in the way that makes this game particularly special.
But that all changed on November 7th, when I Grifoni announced legendary Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko as their new manager, replacing Davide Ballardini following a 2-2 draw against Empoli two days prior.
It’s a big return for Shevchenko, to the country where he developed into the world’s greatest striker in the early-to-mid 2000s, and where he achieved legendary status at Milan during his seven years in northern Italy.
Shevchenko guided Ukraine to the quarter final of Euro 2020, but resigned after the tournament, with the 45-year-old citing a desire to try his hand in club football.
Yet Shevchenko’s return to Italy after 15 years away isn’t the big story in and of itself, but rather who his first game as boss is against: Jose Mourinho’s Roma.
The two, of course, have history together at Chelsea. Shevchenko worked under Mourinho for just over a year, before Mourinho was sacked by owner Roman Abramovich in the autumn of 2007.
It’s always been reported that the chasm between the two was created by the signing of Shevchenko in the summer of 2006 when, after three years of trying time and again to prize him away from Milan, Abramovich succeeded.
Chelsea were in the market for a new striker to play alongside Didier Drogba. Hernan Crespo, who had returned to Chelsea from a loan spell with Shevchenko at Milan in 2004/05, pined for a return to Italy, and so left again to join Inter on a two-year deal in July 2006.
Mourinho made a shortlist of strikers he wanted the club to target, and Shevchenko wasn’t one of them. Yet Abramovich interfered and put his name on it regardless. Mourinho wanted Samuel Eto’o; the owner Shevchenko. There was only ever going to be one winner.
"Because of his persistence and as my life situation changed I decided the time was right," Shevchenko said at the time.
"It meant a lot to me that Chelsea have wanted me for the past three years and that is the reason I chose them.”
Mourinho tried to put a brave face on it at the time, but revealed later that he didn’t want Shevchenko.
"He was not my first option but the club gave him to me as a second option," he said in August 2008, after taking over at Inter.
Shevchenko’s time at Chelsea was nothing short of disastrous, with it becoming apparent pretty quickly that the Sheva who terrorised defenders in Italy and across the continent was gone. The 2004 Ballon d’Or winner was just past his peak by the time he arrived at Chelsea. Many felt he struggled with the legendary ‘pace’ of English football, but a loan spell back at Milan in 2008-09 failed to ignite his career and was evidence that his best days were indeed behind him.
Moreover, it was the beginning of the end for Mourinho’s relationship with Abramovich. He was sacked in September 2007 with Shevchenko, ironically, scoring the final goal of the first Mourinho era, in a 1-1 Champions League draw against Rosenberg.
Yet there was never any ill feeling between the two, despite Mourinho’s barb that Shevchenko was ‘treated like a prince’ at Milan, and this the reason for his struggles at Chelsea. 14 years later they now meet as contemporaries.
Shevchenko walks into a Genoa side without a win in over two months and languishing just outside the relegation places. Davide Ballardini, who seemingly forever bounces between stints at Genoa and Palermo, could do little to overturn a squad in dire need of some investment.
That may come in the shape of new owners 777 Partners, who bought the club for around $175m. The American-based private investment firm also holds a minority stake in Sevilla, and their first big decision since taking hold of the club was to appoint Shevchenko.
The match also represents a must-win game of sorts for Mourinho. The bloom is fully off the rose upon his return to Serie A. Roma have only won once in the last six weeks, which includes an embarrassing 6-1 away defeat to Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League.
The euphoria that existed after Mourinho’s announcement as coach has long since faded, with the Portuguese coach taking even quicker than expected to perform the customary throwing of players under the bus and arguing about refereeing decisions game after game. Following the 3-2 defeat to Venezia, the pressure is building on Mourinho to get a result at the Marassi.
He still has the backing of the Friedkin Group, but the Giallorossi faithful are beginning to get a little restless. It also doesn’t help his cause that Roma outspent everyone in Serie A last summer.
The Mourinho aura was at its height when Shevchenko played for him, and he was arguably the greatest coach in the world. Mourinho was emboldened enough to drop Shevchenko midway through that 2006-07 season just to prove a point to Abramovich.
Yet those halcyon days are long gone. The old Mourinho charisma flickers ever so briefly, but he’s a vastly different man now. And it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Shevchenko put one past Mourinho on Sunday, in a way that he failed to do whilst playing under him at Chelsea all those years ago.
Follow me on Twitter.