PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has caused strong reactions lately.
The 41-year-old endured huge criticism for his statements about Qatar.
Now comes a strong confession after the hate storm against “Ibra”.
Ever since Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a long-awaited comeback to the football field again after his severe knee injury, he has been at the center of events. The 41-year-old returned to play for Milan but was quickly pushed into the Champions League squad.
Criticism of Zlatan
Then he also made a comeback for the Swedish national team and ended up in a lot of trouble after praising the dictatorship of Qatar as the host country for the football World Cup in 2022. That set off a real hate storm against “Ibra”.
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Now the next voice enters the debate about Zlatan with a strong confession about the outspoken football star.
“I think his actions, most recently his praise of Qatar, are embarrassing. When he boycotts journalists who are just doing their job, I think he is childish,” writes Marina Ferhatovic in a column at Dagens Nyheter.
“He is a bit like a troublesome little brother that you have to put up with. But as soon as someone criticizes him, I feel – just like with a troublesome little brother – the need to defend him. It’s not logical, but when someone says they hate Zlatan, it feels like they hate me.”
READ MORE: The giant turnaround for Zlatan Ibrahimovic – here is the new future statement after the canceled meeting with Milan
“Everyone hates Ibra”
Ferhatovic continues his column by giving examples of the criticism that Ibrahimovic has heard throughout his career.
“I’ve heard all the explanations: That he’s not a team player and that he’s self-righteous, and not in that self-deprecating way that seems to be accepted. It is said that he is a bully. The content seems to be that he does not have the right personality to be one of Sweden’s best players of all time.
“Everyone hates him a little, as a friend explained to me,” she writes in the daily newspaper.
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But then she also pokes holes in the criticism against Zlatan and the claim that the hatred against him is not true at all.
“However, that is not entirely true. I haven’t met many Jugs who hate him. In exposed areas, he is a king. His “complicated” name everyone has been forced to learn to spell and pronounce – nobody ever says Ibrahimovic with a k at the end anymore. He is treated submissively by the same majority society that many struggle to get into. Zlatan’s success is a revenge for the entire town,” writes columnist Marina Ferhatovic.
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READ MORE: When Zlatan made the Norwegians tear off their lice cardigans in anger and became loathed throughout the country: “An arrogant pile of shit”