Few players carry themselves like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He's all things. He's a once-in-a-generation athlete, a seemingly immortal player, and a supernova ego. He's also football's pre-eminent hero character. He's playful, sincere, clever, and brilliant. Ibrahimovic is almost certainly the last of his kind.
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Zlatan inhibits a territory all of his own. But how? An interesting piece is that Ibrahimovic has never finished in the top three of the Ballon D'or voting. Long before the Messi and Ronaldo reign which has accounted for the last decade, there was an original Ronaldo, Kaka, or a Shevchenko ahead of him. While he may have won league titles in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and France, he has never won the Uefa Champions League. But somehow, that seems beside the point.
In 2018, a full-page advert was ran in the LA Times to announce his signing. Later in the year, the credit card company Visa run an advertising campaign targeted around the World Cup. In it, Ibrahimovic- who had retired from the national team was no longer part of the Swedish squad- mockingly promised to enter the tournament by himself in an attempt to save the great fans from a world cup without him.
These incidents were typical of brand Zlatan. Around the same period, his image became interlinked with the lion iconography which was becoming his trademark. Zlatan wears his self-regard like a crown and the public loves him for that. 2003 to 2011 were great years for domestic titles for Zlatan. He won one with Ajax, two at Juventus, three at Inter Milan, one at Barcelona, and one while on loan at AC Milan.
Mobility between the top rival teams in the Italian league wasn't especially rare. Zlatan was also unusually consistent. No matter the place he went, whichever colors he wore, he scored the same goals, endowed the same success, and garnished his teams with the same blend of force and technical flair. That style is important too.
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Zlatan grew up playing neighborhood and street football where the premiums were strength, expression, and imagination and that never changed. His range is extraordinary.
His autobiography is often depicted as a work of fiction. He is the fiery enigma. The generational talent. The icon. The provocateur, the performing ego, and the unstable element.
One of the genius in football.
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