You're reading: Football.co.uk: Soviet legend inspires Ukraine with past glory

Oleg Blokhin takes Ukraine into its home European championships as manager, hoping to inspire the team with his successes from the glory days of Soviet football in the 1970s and 1980s.

"This tournament is very important for all of us and very special for me personally as I never played at the European championships during my playing career," Blokhin said. "So I want to catch up as a coach."

The 59-year-old — who set an impressive series of records in his playing days with Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR — took over Ukraine’s national team for the first time in December 2003 in the midst of a dreadful run of form.

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