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Hello! We’re in conversation with footballing royalty — and a self-appointed “guardian angel”.
Coming up:
🗣️ Ibrahimovic talks exclusively
🍬 Hayes, Haribo and commentary
💰 City’s $100m deal for Alvarez
👀 A bizarre referee injury
Zlat’s Amazing — Ibrahimovic: ‘I’d be the best in every ball sport’
(Getty Images; design Sean Reilly)
Prime Lionel Messi versus prime Cristiano Ronaldo was a two-horse race. In choosing the world’s best footballer, it was Barcelona’s No 10 or CR7. The Ballon d’Or went one way or the other for 10 years straight, unchecked.
All and sundry respected the pecking order; all, that is, except Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a man never knowingly beaten on confidence. Say what you will about Sweden’s greatest showman, but he’s the closest thing football has had to Muhammad Ali’s bravado and lip. The ego is there in all its glory in this exclusive interview with The Athletic.
If one man on earth thought he ranked as a contender to Messi and Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic was it. His list of honours on Wikipedia goes on forever and when you filter out the padding — with due respect to Eurosport’s player-of-the-month award — it’s still relentless: 12 league titles for starters, with Ajax, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
“I became the best,” he says, and credit where it’s due, he wasn’t far off.
Ibrahimovic has his interview shtick down to a fine art, the tone of deity-stroke-superhero that wants you to believe you’re in earshot of genius. On AC Milan’s current tour of the United States, they set him up to throw a ceremonial pitch at a New York Yankees baseball game. He didn’t think to practise — because why would he?
Ibrahimovic warned our writer, Adam Crafton, that his “time is expensive”. Either Adam had money to burn or Zlatan was pulling his leg because the discussion goes in all directions — and it’s brilliant.
‘Guardian angel’
Ibrahimovic retired a year ago. If you thought he might drift into obscure weirdness like, say, Eric Cantona, think again. At Milan, where he ended his career, he’s employed as an advisor to the board. Away from the microphones, the theatrical talker is a trusted voice.
He also has two boys in Milan’s youth system, one of whom — Maximilian — turned pro recently. It’s hard to know if being part of the Ibrahimovic brood is a blessing or a curse: sky-high standards, but bloody good genes.
It intrigued me to read the 42-year-old has no intention of becoming a coach. He says the job turns your hair grey overnight and I’ve observed enough managers to know he’s right.
But it’s sad, in a way, because his conversation with Adam reveals an appreciation of motivational guidance: the discipline he got from strict parents, the love-hate style of Fabio Capello, the hard-nosed intensity of Jose Mourinho. You can almost guess what type of manager Ibrahimovic would have been — but we’ll never find out.
He defines his role in Milan’s 2021-22 Serie A title win as that of the “guardian angel”. You’re inclined to laugh until you reflect that winning a Scudetto aged 39 is not really of this world. It left me thinking: in an era when all eyes were fixed on two faces, did football appreciate Ibrahimovic enough?
Transfer talk
Never fear — The Athletic’s DealSheet has you sorted for transfer action. Just three-and-a-half weeks to deadline day…
📲 Transfer news live blog
Olympics round-up: Olise going for gold
When France, trailing 1-0, hit the same post twice in the 75th minute, it felt like their luck was out. But they hung in to make the Olympic final, beating Egypt 3-1 in extra time.
Jean Philippe-Mateta’s two goals were key, but Michael Olise rounded the win off (above) and he’s picked the perfect time to cast himself as a big-game asset. Fresh from a £51m ($65m) move to Bayern Munich, Olise boasts six goal contributions at the Olympics, with the final to come on Friday.
The Olympics might not be the World Cup or the Euros, but top talent delivers in these moments. After being deposed by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last season, Bayern will be itching to let Olise loose.
Fair tackle, ref?
Spain also progressed through the last four thanks to a 2-1 victory over Morocco. That keeps them on course for a Euro 2024-Olympic Games double. Not a shabby summer.
It’s tournament over for referee Ilgiz Tantashev, though. In a tackle that was only just caught on camera (below), he was wiped out spectacularly with the match in full flow and left the field injured. That’s one way of nobbling the match official.
Hayes and Haribo
The USWNT have looked leggy on the way to the last four of their Olympics — they meet Germany later — but in fairness to Emma Hayes, years of managing Chelsea taught her how to care for tired bodies.
Hayes is a captivating character: a thinker, a high-achiever and someone who churned her way to the forefront of world football, proving her nous in the dugout and the commentary box. More people should use Haribo sweets to demonstrate tactical processes.
Her contract with the USWNT runs to 2027, so she’s there for the long haul, but eventually, a female coach is going to manage a men’s team at the very highest level. The more I read about Hayes, the more I think it could be her. And should be her.
📺 Olympics semi-finals: USWNT vs Germany Women, 12pm ET/5pm UK — Fubo/Peacock Premium, BBC; Brazil Women vs Spain Women, 3pm ET/8pm UK — Fubo/Peacock Premium, BBC.
📲 Olympics live blog
Around The Athletic FC
🎙️ Arsenal have spent a massive £200m on defenders on Mikel Arteta’s watch, £42m of it on new boy Riccardo Calafiori. The latest episode of The Athletic FC podcast is asking — do they have what they need to topple Manchester City?
🏥 New Manchester United signing Leny Yoro has undergone foot surgery. It went to plan, but he’s out for three months.
📈 Nathan Tella: released by Arsenal, failed trials at Norwich City and Reading, ruptured an ACL at 19… and then last season helped Leverkusen to one of the most impressive titles in European club history. Never give up.
🏟️ Ever wondered where defunct football stadiums go to die? Here’s the story of Bradford Park Avenue, the club and the ground the EFL forgot.
Dear diary: I’m living the dream but rarely playing
I went into this pre-season tour diary — compiled by Newcastle United’s Mark Gillespie in Japan — expecting to read an overview of his week.
Instead, I found a wonderfully sweet love letter from Gillespie to the club he adores.
Gillespie is 32 and a reserve goalkeeper at Newcastle. There are so many players ahead of him that he’s never appeared in the Premier League and, realistically, never will. But he followed Newcastle as a kid, he was in their academy in his school years and there’s nowhere he’d rather be.
You’ll learn two things from George Caulkin’s superb write-up: what life as a spare goalkeeper consists of and the definition of salt of the earth.
(Top picture: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Read the full article here