Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the cursed genius forced to retire, who didn’t support Guardiola and ended up adoring Messi

Zlatan Ibrahimovic He had the magic of Messi, the devastating personality of Cristiano Ronaldo, the marketing boom of Mbappé and the physical prowess of Erling Haaland. But he was simply Zlatan, a spectacular footballer, a “damned” genius whose formula was to always put his own individuality before the interests of his team. And it worked, in part. Everyone knows who Ibra was in football, even if it is difficult to remember some glorious pages of his career. Until arriving in Milan.

“The time has come to say goodbye to football.” Last June, the Swede announced, as has already been sung, that he would be hanging up his boots at the age of 41 in the midst of an emotional farewell given to him by the Italian club, with which he identified most after having worn a total of nine shirts, including that of Barcelona at the time of Pep Guardiola, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta.

The star born in Malmö, Sweden, wanted to play some more. However, it was Milan himself who rushed the decision: the Rossoneri announced that they would not take it into account for the current season. There was the Monza occasion, it’s true. But Zlatan understood that the time had come to lower the curtains and put an end to his long career.

San Siro was the scene of Zlatan’s last match in the Serie A final between Milan and Hellas Verona. It wasn’t a coincidence. The stadium was filled with 70,000 fans to greet the man who returned in January 2020 to expand his legend. Ibra said goodbye after 93 goals in 163 games with Berlusconi’s team.

After winning a Scudetto and a Super Cup in his first phase (between 2011 and 2012), Ibra returned in 2020 and was the protagonist of Milan’s relaunch which led to the 2022 scudetto. However, his injuries prevented him from playing as much as he would have liked..

In his final season, he played just 144 minutes in four matches, and that didn’t stop him from becoming the oldest goalscorer in Serie A history with a goal against Udinese in March last year.

Zlatan made his football debut in Malmo, the club of your city. It jumped from there Ajax where he won two Eredivisies, a Cup and a Dutch Super Cup. In 2004 she was purchased by Juventus where he won the famous championships (2004-2005 and 2005-2006) which were then annulled due to fraud and caused Torino’s relegation. It was then that he decided to emigrate and moved to Milan but to play in Inter.

He also won a Serie A and an Italian Super Cup with the Neroazzurri. He was chosen as the best player in the championship and went to Barcelona. Signed July 27, 2009 e the culé paid almost 70 million euros from Swede He joined a European champion team and won the Spanish Super Cup (title in one match), a Spanish Super Cup against Shaktar Donetsk and the Club World Cup, the final which, with Messi on the pitch, they won against l’Estudiantes de Alejandro Sabella.

The relationship between Ibra and Pep was complex and attracted media attention for several reasons. The Swede arrived in Catalonia in a transfer involving Samuel Eto’o and a significant sum of money. Although the team has achieved success in terms of titles, the dynamic between the charismatic Swedish striker and the Spanish coach has been the subject of constant controversy.

Guardiola, known for his style of play based on ball possession and mobility, had to find a way to integrate Ibrahimovic into a system that already featured Messi. Ibrahimović’s adaptation to Barcelona’s style and his relationship with Guardiola have been the subject of speculation and discussion.

The lack of harmony led Ibrahimovic to express his frustration in his autobiography, where he openly criticized Guardiola. He claimed that the coach preferred Messi as the central figure of the attack and that there was no clear communication about his role in the team. Despite these challenges, Barcelona managed to win La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup during that season.

In August 2010 Zlatan went to Milan, who made an excellent deal: he paid 24 million and maintained the record. He was also a champion, executioner of his former team, Inter (a goal of his ended the Neroazzurri’s unbeaten run), and he even had the pleasure of eliminating Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

“Guardiola is a coward, he’s not a real man. Every time I entered the dressing room, he disappeared. And if we passed each other in the corridor, he looked down,” he later told the Guardian. To hit Pep he dragged the players of that unforgettable team: “In my first days, Guardiola told me that the Barcelona players didn’t drive fast cars, that they kept a low profile. He wanted to make me think that I was a normal boy.” , but I “I’m Zlatan and I like to be original, I like to be different. Guardiola couldn’t take it for granted”, Ibrahimovic would later say at the time of Manchester United.

And he continues, in his “karate” language: “I love Leo (Messi) and Andrés (Iniesta), don’t get me wrong. But they are so sensitive, so silent… They always did exactly what Guardiola told them.” and they never complained. Please”.

In July 2012 Ibra obtained one of those titles that he liked: the Paris Saint-Germain He paid $170 million for his pass, making it the most expensive pass in history up to that point. Furthermore, he was the second highest paid on the planet, behind Eto’o. Thus PSG began to pay exorbitant sums in search of the coveted Champions League: he scored 156 goals with the French, but Orejona never arrived.

At United, perhaps his last example of fullness was seen in 2016, when he played 53 games and scored 29 goals. The Red Devils were the seventh club with which he played the Champions League, a record even if he never managed to lift the most prestigious cup in Europe with his own hands.

What would follow would be pure spectacle. A “Pelé-like” step into the MLS to play in Los Angeles Galaxy with a million dollar contract, some spectacular goals and the feeling of the last bullets. But Zlatan always aimed for more and returned to Milan to become champion again after eleven years. His knee injury caused him to experience a real ordeal and he was no longer regular. So much so that Milan decided not to renew his contract.

In total, Zlatan Ibrahimovic played 866 matches at club level, scored 511 goals and provided 202 assists. With his country’s national team he only played in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, being part of the team that eliminated Bielsa’s Argentina, and four European Championships. He is Sweden’s all-time top scorer with 62 goals in 122 games.

If his relationship with Guardiola was explosive, he ended up adoring Messi. “We are two different players, both in style and in the way we play. I constantly moved and became successful in different countries, such as Holland, Italy, France or Spain; He, on the other hand, remained in the same team for many years and was incredible. But if he can do it there, he can do it anywhere, because he is that type of player who loves football, loves the game so much that he would have no problem playing and succeeding, just like he is doing in Barcelona, ​​​​​​in ” Everyone,” he said in an interview with ESPN about his former teammate.

There he added: “I think Messi is unique, I don’t know if we will see another player do the things he does because he has his own style and I don’t think it’s possible for anyone else to become that kind of player.” “I was lucky enough to see him all the time. Days. It’s like playing PlayStation: you give him the ball and he starts dribbling past all the players. That’s what Messi is.”

However, one of Zlatan’s most memorable phrases came after the World Cup in Qatar, when he praised the 10 but railed against the Argentina national team. “Messi won everything and will be remembered, but the others behaved badly and this cannot be respected,” said someone who grew up admiring the Brazilian Ronaldo in his youth.

“I feel sorry for Mbappé, because scoring four goals in a final and not winning it is very sad. But he has already won a World Cup and will win another. I’m not worried about Mbappé, I’m worried about the other players in Argentina because they won’t win again nothing”, Zlatan fired, without filters.

And when Leo signed for Inter Miami he left another pearl, dedicated to the Americans and remembering his time in MLS: “I’m happy for them because now they will watch football again. Since I left they only watched baseball “. Like I said, a damn genius.