Zlatan Ibrahimovic

He is a Swedish football striker. He is currently playing for Inter Milan, in Italy, and has played for the Sweden national football team.


Ibrahimović is 192 cm tall and powerfully built, and thus physical strength is one of his greatest assets. Since his arrival in Italy, he has become even stronger, since coach Fabio Capello, who is known to prefer physically strong players, ordered him to undergo a gym training program. It has been suggested by Ibrahimović himself that he might have added a couple of kilos too much, and that this contributed to the poor form in the spring of 2006.
Ibrahimović is, though, also known for his technical ability, and this unusual combination of technique and strength is what has taken him to the top clubs in Italy. None of the wondergoals described above could have been made by a less technically gifted player. He is also well known to be a good provider of spectacular assists.
His technique consists mainly in his great dribbling skills, but he can also shoot very hard, though not always accurately, and has taken free-kicks in both Inter and Juventus. He is also a good passer of the ball, though he sometimes seem to have concentration lapses and thus makes simple mistakes. Ibrahimović is also quite fast, though this is rarely seen, as he prefers to meet the ball rather than try to beat the offside trap and run towards the opponents goal. When playing in a 4-4-2-formation, Ibrahimović is usually the one of the attackers who meet the ball, whereas the other attacker (most notably Hernan Crespo and David Trézéguet) is closer to the goal, trying to beat the offside-trap and getting first on crosses. This might be one reason why Ibrahimović scores relatively few goals but makes quite a few assists for a forward. Occasionally, when playing with players less suited for that role, such as Alvaro Recoba, Ibrahimović moves further upfront.
Ibrahimović is also thought to have a bad temper, resulting in a red card in the important game against Bayern Munich in November 2, 2005, and a two match suspension after head-butting present assistant coach Siniša Mihajlović in the match between Inter and Juventus in April 17, 2005. He is also known to be quite a bad loser, never giving interviews after defeats. The flip side of this may be that he is a winning type, according to some.
With his strength and height, he wins most aerial duels with defenders.
In Sweden, Ibrahimović is often accused of laziness: that he does not work enough defensively. In Italy, where people never expect strikers to do much defensive work, this is less often heard. Another drawback he has is that he concedes quite a few free-kicks.

Inter
October 3, 1981
Source: Wikipedia