When Kosovar Asllani signed for Paris Saint-Germain ten years ago, the French club realized that an opportunity had arisen to market themselves a little extra. But Asllani has no fond memories of that stunt when she and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, then also at PSG, were to be photographed together.
– Zlatan was there at the same time and they wanted to make a point that we were two Swedish forwards in PSG. We were photographed together and it was a lot of noise. One hour. The next time I was driven to an apartment hotel in the slums of Paris, Asllani said in an interview with Femina recently.
Ibrahimovic will not have received the same treatment.
– No, not Zlatan. I got no info on where I could buy food or how to get to the gym. It was a “reality check” and a reminder that the coin has two sides. On one side it is shiny, the other is completely dirty. That part of women’s football is still developable, you could say.
Now the two Swedish football stars are again in the same club. Kosovar Asllani has just signed a two-year contract with Ibrahimovic’s Italian club Milan. But the 32-year-old midfielder is not afraid that the spectacle from Paris will repeat itself.
– I think it has definitely changed, I know it has changed. That is something that will not happen in Milan, says Asllani after a training session at Sweden’s European Championship base Carden Park in England.
With a few days left for the premiere match against the Netherlands, Asllani reflects on how the view of women’s football has changed. She says that many previously did not understand what it meant to be a professional on the women’s side, that it was seldom as “fancy” as some seem to have thought.
Now it’s better, but not good.
– We are taking steps forward all the time and it does not look like it did ten years ago. It is positive for women’s football, but we are very far from where we want to be. But we are taking steps, says Kosovar Asllani.
She was recruited to Real Madrid three years ago, as part of the team’s new women’s venture, but now chose to leave, partly due to what she described as an unhealthy environment, where players, for example, were forced to play injured.
She looks with confidence on the next challenge.
– It really feels like Milan is a good choice for me. I think maybe you expect to go to a Champions League team, or to a top team in one of the leagues. I have also had those alternatives, but I have really gone for what I want, says Asllani.
– Above all, it is an ambitious club that has really set a goal that they want to take a Champions League place next year. Since then, my own desire to play in the Italian league has been crucial. And it feels like a club that really wants to invest in me.