PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He is one of Swedish football’s greatest ever.
But despite that, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has constantly had to receive criticism.
– Ibrahimovic only played for himself, admits the icon “Kurre” Hamrin.
Not many Swedish footballers come close to that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has accomplished during his career. He broke through at a young age in Malmö FF and did exactly what he wanted in the Allsvenskan before there was a record move abroad.
Zlatan’s career
After that, “Ibra” refined his raw talent in the best possible way and developed into a world star. Over the years at Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Milan, PSG, Manchester United, Los Angeles Galaxy and Milan again, he has scored goals and won titles on a regular basis.
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Zlatan will go down in history as one of the most spectacular footballers the world has ever seen and so many of his iconic goals will live on for a long time. In the Swedish national team, he is also the top scorer on the men’s side of all time with his 62 goals in 122 international matches during his career.
Hamrin’s criticism
But regardless of how good he has been in the blue-and-yellow national team jersey, there have always been Swedish opinions about Zlatan and the criticism has been palpable throughout his football career. Many believe that Sweden is a better team without Ibrahimovic on the field and the icon Kurt Hamrin is one of them.
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Back in 2017, “Kurre” gave his brutally harsh verdict on Zlatan in the national team and came up with the opinion that Sweden is better without Ibra on the pitch.
– I probably think so, because Zlatan was a burden. When he played, it was all about putting him in position, and he didn’t always succeed. Sure, when he was 100 percent and it paid off, it was good, but when he had injuries, he was rather a weight on the rest of the team’s shoulders. Now we see another Swedish national team. It can certainly not count on magic from Zlatan, but the eleven contains eleven players who work hard. “Ibra” only played for himself and he made sure the rest of the team played for him too, Hamrin said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Mattino.
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Of course, Hamrin has a lot of praise to hand out to Zlatan as well, but he is still clear that no matter how fantastic Ibrahimovic is, Sweden can lift as a national team without him.
– He is the best Swedish player in the last 20 years, but when he left it gave room for others to step forward and take more responsibility. Now they know they can’t play badly and still win, because they don’t have Ibrahimovic. These days, Sweden plays more as a team, says Hamrin to the newspaper.
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