Zlatan Ibrahimovic, despite his immense talent, was often questioned.
Once, Glenn Strömberg made the entire Swedish people drop their jaws – with one of the worst cuts we’ve heard.
– Then I am still mild in my criticism, explained Strömberg.
Today, he is known as Sweden’s greatest soccer player of all time, and one of the world’s best strikers in the last 20 years. But it was in Malmö FF that a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic had his big breakthrough in the late 90s. After dominating in the Superettan and the Allsvenskan, he was bought for expensive money to Ajax, but life there was not entirely easy for Zlatan.
Glenn’s Giant Sawing
Although Ibrahimovic performed when he wanted to get playing time, his time in Ajax was limited by arguments with teammates, and in the end the club chose to sell the Swede to Juventus. But it wasn’t entirely easy for “Ibra” there either. Ibrahimovic had then already become Sweden’s biggest football star, but not everyone was satisfied with what he accomplished on the pitch. Despite the fact that Ibrahimovic gained a lot of trust in the star-studded team, he perhaps never really got it off the ground, and Glenn Strömberg reacted strongly to that.
Strömberg is one of Sweden’s biggest football experts, and during his career there were a total of eight years in Italian Atalanta, where Strömberg chose to stay even after hanging up his shoes. Once, in 2006, Strömberg got it right and simply enough about how Ibrahimovic performed on the pitch – and came up with one of the biggest cuts the Swede has probably received.
– Any forward who plays in division three or lower in Italy would have scored more goals than Zlatan if he played for Juventus, Strömberg told Radiosporten.
“Worst in living memory”
The move from Strömberg, which came just weeks before the WC 2006, caused many to react strongly. But Strömberg stood his ground. Rather, he meant that he was too kind in his criticism.
– Zlatan’s goal score is the worst in living memory for a forward with so much playing time in one of the league’s best clubs, said Strömberg.
Glenn Strömberg has always been respected in Italy, but when he saw Zlatan in that way, he got a lot of people against him.
– I am very surprised, and think that the criticism is far too harsh. It is true that “Ibra” is not in his best form and that he does not score many goals, but he has hardly been that bad, an Italian columnist told Aftonbladet.
Just months later, he moved from Juventus to Inter, and the rest, as they say, is history. After his stay at Juventus, he became the Italian league’s most feared striker, and one of the world’s best players.
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