PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has meant so much to Swedish football.
But he has also encountered criticism on several occasions during his career.
Like when WC 94 hero Kennet Andersson pointed out a big problem with “Ibra”.
There are few Swedish footballers who can measure up to the greatness and success of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He has won league titles around Europe and scored goals for all the clubs he has represented over the years.
Zlatan’s career
“Ibra” also goes down in history as the Swedish national team’s top scorer ever on the men’s side. It was 62 goals and 122 international matches in the national team shirt and Zlatan will now leave a big void behind him.
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For the second time in his career, Ibrahimovic has ended his national team career and one of the greatest ever has said goodbye. Again gets the national team captain Jan Andersson manage without a big star but it has gone well before.
After European Championship 2016, Zlatan ended up in the national team for the first time, but Sweden was then welded together into a very hard-to-beat team machine that made it to the World Cup 2018. There, Janne’s team charmed many and went to the World Cup quarter-finals after a really successful tournament.
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Andersson’s words
One who was really impressed then was the Swedish WC 94 hero Kenneth Andersson who was completely convinced that Sweden became a better national team without Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the team.
– Of course, it’s not talk. He was just too damn good. He was too big. You can say anything, but certainly there were many players in the national teams in which he played who did not really dare to do their thing, but looked for Zlatan to hand over to him instead of doing their thing, says Kennet in an old interview with the podcast “Lundh”.
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Andersson then develops his reasoning about why Sweden became a better team without Zlatan on the pitch.
– It’s about respect. You dare not take that place. You think you are playing with such a fantastic and good player. I can think of nothing but respect. I had almost a unique role on every team that I had: I was a ball receiver. It didn’t matter if I played with Baggio or someone else, I had the same role anyway. But I could still feel when I played with Baggio that there was something special that he did. “Could he do that? Then I can run there,” and so on. Then they had respect for him. But it didn’t affect the game. I wouldn’t do the same thing as him. I wouldn’t dribble off an old man and put him up in the crossbar. I would take the ball and drop it on him, so it was easier for me, says national team icon Kennet Andersson in the podcast.
– But I can understand that some players, when you get on the edge and want to do your thing and Zlatan comes and wants the ball, then you hand the ball over and stand there and watch. It’s nothing strange. It’s not a criticism. I just think it looks like that, it’s the facts.
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