Photo: Bildbyrån & SVT
Johan Elmander is one of the participants in this year’s champion’s champion.
In tonight’s episode, there will be a great focus on his own football career.
Then Elmander talks about his national team colleague Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The new season of “Master’s champion” is in full swing and tonight it was time for the second episode. Then it would be about the former football player Johan Elmander.
Elmander’s career
The Alingsås son had a nice playing career with SM gold for Djurgården, Danish league champion with Bröndby, Turkish league champion with Galatasaray and Uefa Cup champion with Feyenoord. He made 85 international matches in the Swedish national team jersey in 2002-2015 and delivered 20 goals during that time.
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But Elmander had a long time to live in the shadow of a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They were born the same year and broke through at the same time as two major Swedish attack talents, but it was “Ibra” who went first in the starting eleven and Johan who had to act in Blågult.
The words about Zlatan
But then came the golden moment that Elmander was waiting for and what his tribute film opens into, namely the European qualifying match against the big nation Spain at Råsunda 2006. Zlatan had violated a national team rule together with the teammates Olof Mellberg and Christian Wilhelmsson and been turned off.
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Then Ibrahimovic responded by leaving the Swedish national team completely indefinitely, which became a huge snack at that time.
-Oh, what many questions I have right now, says another MM participant in Tobias Karlsson.
– Oh, what many answers I don’t have. But it became very special. We found out the day after he (Zlatan) was leaving and we didn’t know more than that, Elmander replies.
Johan Elmander was thrown into the starting eleven against Spain and the match would be his great highlight in the football career.
– When it came that Zlatan, who was in my position, would not play then it was me who got the chance and I had been waiting for that. Now I have to take advantage of it and I get the chance with Marcus Allbäck who I knew for a long time, he says in tonight’s episode of the champion’s champion.
He would also take the chance by making the lead goal already after 10 minutes. Sweden would then win the match 2-0 and it is still one of Swedish football’s real big moments today.
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