Andriy Shevchenko sparkled on his first appearance of the season, helping Ukraine to a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan in a friendly on Wednesday.

Oleksander Gladky, 19, opened the scoring by converting a pass from Serhiy Nazarenko in the 30th minute. Ruslan Rotan made certain of victory when he added the second goal following a 65th-minute corner.

Uzbekistan pulled a goal back in injury time when Alexander Geinrikh struck from long range.

Most eyes were fixed on Shevchenko, who has been kept out of Chelsea’s team this season by a back problem.

The striker showed no sign of his injury, playing for 55 minutes and getting in several attempts on goal.

The match was Ukraine’s final warm-up ahead of next month’s Euro 2008 qualifiers against Georgia and Italy.

Ukraine are fourth in Group B qualifying, behind France, Italy and Scotland.