PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Everyone has a clear opinion about Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Now Patrick Ekwall gives his honest view of the Swedish superstar.
– He can be in a damn bad mood, he says to Sportbibeln.
It cannot be said against that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of Sweden’s greatest footballers of all time, many consider him to be the very greatest. He broke the record as the Swedish men’s national team’s all-time leading scorer and won the Golden Ball as Sweden’s best soccer player twelve times.
The criticism against Zlatan
Ibrahimovic had a very successful playing career that lasted past his 40th birthday in both club and national teams. Now he has taken over as sporting advisor to the ownership group in AC Milan.
But it hasn’t been a dream start for Zlatan in his new role. Milan slips in seventh place in the Serie A table and is only in 20th place in the Champions League series.
READ MORE: Patrick Ekwall now says what he thinks about Jon Dahl Tomasson
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has also received harsh criticism for his involvement in Milan. The former sports journalist Patrick Ekwall has worked closely with Zlatan for many years as a national team reporter and now he gives his view on the criticism against Zlatan.
– Actually, I am too poorly informed, to be honest, regarding what he has done and not done in Milan. I don’t follow Italian football like that. However, it is the case that what he could do on a football field, he cannot do in the same way on the side of the field if it were tough. He could turn a match on his own, says the TV profile in an interview with Sportbibeln.
– In addition, he could work wonders when he was the most criticized. It’s a different world he’s ended up in and if things don’t go well there, you have to endure criticism no matter who you are. So it turns quickly. I’m not surprised that he’s being criticized, because everyone is criticized in the end no matter who they are and no matter how great they’ve been. Then I can’t say much about the criticism itself, because I don’t know much about that. It’s not going very well, but it doesn’t have to be his fault.
Ekwall about Zlatan
Patrick Ekwall worked for TV4 for over 20 years and has met Zlatan many times in connection with Swedish national team matches.
– I’ve mostly met him in interview situations, it’s not like I’ve had his number, called and had coffee in town. Absolutely not. And most of the time these interviews have been because TV4 had the broadcasting rights. It’s not like I fixed them myself, so I won’t take too much of that credit. But he is capricious. If there was anything I learned, it was that you needed to read, he says.
READ MORE: Patrick Ekwall on the hatred between Zlatan and Ljungberg: “That’s where it broke”
It was very special to talk to “Ibra”. Ekwall admits that today, many years later and after he left sports journalism behind.
– Sometimes there was a press conference before, he went to these interviews and then you had to read: “What mood is he in now?” Because he could be in a damn bad mood sometimes and then you couldn’t turn that boat around. It was difficult, then. Then you had to try to play a little, and very much feel the situation. I thought that was fun and interesting. Because it was a challenge when doing interviews, says the TV4 profile in the interview.
– Then I was of the feeling that I would rather hear him talk about a lot, instead of just going on the attack. A lot of people say: “Why aren’t you critical of him?” Well, it’s not an interrogation. It’s an interview, and I want to hear him talk. I think it’s so rare that we get to do that, and then it can be interesting to ask questions instead of attacking. Should you attack, then you can do so at the end of the interview. If you were to attack directly, then you would no longer have an interview. Then he could answer yes and no to the questions, then he had left. It was a trade-off, definitely. But exciting! You never quite knew what you might get. It was important to read, so that there was no mistake. Then he could be incredibly entertaining in his own right. But to answer the question, what is he like? Yes, so in his professional role he is capricious.
Ekwall also admits that celebrity has changed Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a person.
– We must not forget that detail: After all, things happen to people that make them special and I fully understand that. In his case: It’s like Sweden’s most famous person. He is more famous than the King and Queen. He can’t go anywhere or do anything, because then it gets written about or there are people there. There is a lot of stuff going on all the time that obviously makes you change as a person and become cautious. I fully understand that, says Patrick to Sportbibeln.
Patrick Ekwall is a guest in the new episode of the podcast “Help, I’m turning 50” with Rickard Olsson. Listen to the program here!
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