Zlatan Ibrahimovic; king, legend and god.

Talk about a striker who is fully aware of his position, Zlatan comes to mind. His opener against Sunderland exemplifies this. Backing the goal post, he received the ball from Ander Herrera. He held the ball under his feet while using his hand to hold off the defender. He pushed the ball forward towards the central area and curled the ball wickedly into the right corner of the goal post beating Pickford's full stretch. A typical Zlatan goal.


When he arrived the EPL in the summer of last year, many people did not give him a chance to impact. Arsene Wenger opined that his age will be a barrier to his success in the English league. With 28 goals so far, the big Swede is doing a good job of proving critics wrong.

A United side without Zlatan is seen as ordinary. Ibra has this aura that makes any team leader surrender his role to him. He 'ruled' Inter, conquered Frnace with PSG and is piloting United out of murkey waters. With Zlatan on the field, the game is never over until called so by the officials. There is this belief amongst United fans that the man Ibra will pop up with a goal. More often than not, he has delivered.

With a staggering level of arrogance, Zlatan walks the talk. In my game life, I haven't seen a veteran number 9 deliver the way he has done. Man is no push over. His game has lost pace owing to age but he is so technically gifted that his lack of pace is seen as unimportant. On the field, he knows what to do. He accuately reads the mind of players, both team mates and opponents.

In a football world where people are so keen to talk about Messi and Cristiano half of the time, I marvel at the enigma, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. At age 35, the controversial striker delivers like a teen striker will. In a recent interview where he was asked who his favourite EPL striker is, he mentioned Romelu Lukaku and Sergio Aguero. When quizzed further on why he didn't mention himself he answered, "lions don't compare themselves to humans".
I agree. Zlatan is a lion. A god. He can make orange juice from apple.

Photo credit: dailystar.co.uk
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