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He is Zlatan
shpalman 10 years ago Edited
AC Milan, Italy 55 2252

here a nice interview with Ibra:
http://soccer.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/06/03/zlatan-ibrahimovic-sweden-psg-world-cup

some extracts:

SI – You start the book by writing about Guardiola and talk about how he wanted ordinary guys and Barcelona players acting like school boys, and that you didn’t fit into that. And that at one point you screamed at Guardiola in a game at Villarreal. What was it about Guardiola that bothered you so much?

IBRAHIMOVIC – In the beginning he was pretty involved to bring me there, and he convinced everybody to bring me there and even myself. Once I came there, everything was fantastic the first six months, and then something happened. I still don’t know yet what happened. If somebody has a problem where I come from—my area, let’s say—if I have a problem, I resolve it. And this never happened. I’m not the guy that goes to somebody and asks him, “Do you have a problem or something, though?” I train, I’m professional, and I respect the decision of the coach.

So I really don’t know what happened. He never called me in his office and said, “Listen, you don’t play good. You don’t play like I want you to play. You don’t look good. You don’t talk good.” Whatever. I don’t know why, but it didn’t happen, so for me that is a mystery because you buy somebody for 70 Million euros and after six months you don’t talk to him anymore. If you call yourself a man after that … That’s my opinion and my experience from what happened. And at the same time I learned a lot of things and it made me stronger. You learn from the negatives and from the positives. That’s the way it works.

SI – You also write about Mourinho, and you say, “Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for.” Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because that’s the guy who convinces you and manipulates you into doing things that he wants. Where[as] the other guy, Guardiola is a fantastic coach [but] as a person I see him differently. And Mourinho is like the different one. He is convincing you. He is manipulating you to do what he wants. And that’s why he was so successful and even a fantastic coach. So he has two things in one. So it was a totally different kind of character and personality.

SI – You write a little bit about Louis van Gaal, who was your manager at Ajax. He’s about to take over Manchester United. You don’t seem to like him all that much. Why not?

IBRAHIMOVIC – No, because he’s the old tradition. The old general. He’s the boss and everybody else can, how do you say—they’re soldiers. I mean, you have to have a little bit of feeling in the whole thing. Many big stars have problems with him because of the way he is. I understand if you’re 15 to 20 years old, you put the discipline there. Which is normal, because I was in Holland, I was in that school where he built up Ajax. And I understand it, but when you come to a team with 22 big stars, that’s what you treat them like? Like small boys?

We were in a dining room and sitting there until he says, “Ok, go ahead, now you can eat.” Then suddenly we could eat. So we could not eat before he says. And he was acting – we had a, we had a situation where he was the Director in Ajax and he was, yeah, he was the boss then. No problem. You’re the boss. And he was saying to me … We had a situation with [his Ajax teammate Rafael] Van der Vaart.

I talked about it in the book. [Van der Vaart] got injured and he was blaming me that I did it on purpose. I said to him I didn’t do it on purpose. And so it went on, and at the end I said will not play if Van der Vaart is to play because my own captain is attacking me and blaming me for injuring him. Instead of protecting your team as a captain outside the team and also inside the team, he is doing totally the opposite. He is trying now to attack me and get everybody against me. And we had a meeting with Van Gaal and he says, “Listen. I’m the boss. If I tell you to play, you play.” And I was like, “You’re the boss but if I tell you I will not play as long as Van der Vaart is playing, I’m not playing. If you can’t understand nothing just sit and wait and you will see me that I will not play.”

That was my last week at Ajax.

SI –Who is the best teammate you have ever had?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Patrick Vieira.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when he came to Juventus he came with big qualities, he had a strong mentality and every training he was like a monster. He wanted to destroy everybody, but not destroy in a negative way. In a positive way. Like how you train is how you play, and I watched him and I learned a lot.

SI – What is the achievement on the soccer field that you are most proud of?

IBRAHIMOVIC – That I played with many big stars, learned a lot from them and also have won so far 22 trophies.

SI – Who is the toughest defender you have ever faced?

IBRAHIMOVIC – I have many, many good defenders. I think [Paolo] Maldini is the one that was … he had everything. He was complete. He was strong, intelligent, aggressive—everything a defender should have.

SI – Who is the toughest goalkeeper you’ve tried to score on?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Gigi Buffon.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when I came to Juventus, I came as a young talent and suddenly in the locker room I saw Lilian Thuram and I saw [David] Trezeguet, I saw [Alessandro] Del Piero, I saw [Fabio] Cannavaro, I saw Emerson, I saw Pavel Nedvěd, I saw Buffon. That was like, “Jesus. Am I in a locker room where I see all of these superstars?” But at the same time I was thinking I am here because I am good, and, I mean, this is my confidence. And when we were training, to pass the defenders was already difficult, Cannavaro, Thuram, [Gianluca] Zambrotta—Jesus—but when I pass them, then Buffon came. And to pass him, it was like impossible to pass him, and that was in the training. Imagine that in the game. Even more difficult in the game.

SI – Who is the best player you have ever played against?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Oooff. Best player I ever played against? I mean I played against many, many good players, so I don’t know who to keep. I would say Ronaldo the Fenómeno.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because he was my idol and he was, as a football player, he was complete. There will never be, in my opinion, a better player than him.

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here a nice interview with Ibra:
http://soccer.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/06/03/zlatan-ibrahimovic-sweden-psg-world-cup

some extracts:

SI – You start the book by writing about Guardiola and talk about how he wanted ordinary guys and Barcelona players acting like school boys, and that you didn’t fit into that. And that at one point you screamed at Guardiola in a game at Villarreal. What was it about Guardiola that bothered you so much?

IBRAHIMOVIC – In the beginning he was pretty involved to bring me there, and he convinced everybody to bring me there and even myself. Once I came there, everything was fantastic the first six months, and then something happened. I still don’t know yet what happened. If somebody has a problem where I come from—my area, let’s say—if I have a problem, I resolve it. And this never happened. I’m not the guy that goes to somebody and asks him, “Do you have a problem or something, though?” I train, I’m professional, and I respect the decision of the coach.

So I really don’t know what happened. He never called me in his office and said, “Listen, you don’t play good. You don’t play like I want you to play. You don’t look good. You don’t talk good.” Whatever. I don’t know why, but it didn’t happen, so for me that is a mystery because you buy somebody for 70 Million euros and after six months you don’t talk to him anymore. If you call yourself a man after that … That’s my opinion and my experience from what happened. And at the same time I learned a lot of things and it made me stronger. You learn from the negatives and from the positives. That’s the way it works.

SI – You also write about Mourinho, and you say, “Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for.” Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because that’s the guy who convinces you and manipulates you into doing things that he wants. Where[as] the other guy, Guardiola is a fantastic coach [but] as a person I see him differently. And Mourinho is like the different one. He is convincing you. He is manipulating you to do what he wants. And that’s why he was so successful and even a fantastic coach. So he has two things in one. So it was a totally different kind of character and personality.

SI – You write a little bit about Louis van Gaal, who was your manager at Ajax. He’s about to take over Manchester United. You don’t seem to like him all that much. Why not?

IBRAHIMOVIC – No, because he’s the old tradition. The old general. He’s the boss and everybody else can, how do you say—they’re soldiers. I mean, you have to have a little bit of feeling in the whole thing. Many big stars have problems with him because of the way he is. I understand if you’re 15 to 20 years old, you put the discipline there. Which is normal, because I was in Holland, I was in that school where he built up Ajax. And I understand it, but when you come to a team with 22 big stars, that’s what you treat them like? Like small boys?

We were in a dining room and sitting there until he says, “Ok, go ahead, now you can eat.” Then suddenly we could eat. So we could not eat before he says. And he was acting – we had a, we had a situation where he was the Director in Ajax and he was, yeah, he was the boss then. No problem. You’re the boss. And he was saying to me … We had a situation with [his Ajax teammate Rafael] Van der Vaart.

I talked about it in the book. [Van der Vaart] got injured and he was blaming me that I did it on purpose. I said to him I didn’t do it on purpose. And so it went on, and at the end I said will not play if Van der Vaart is to play because my own captain is attacking me and blaming me for injuring him. Instead of protecting your team as a captain outside the team and also inside the team, he is doing totally the opposite. He is trying now to attack me and get everybody against me. And we had a meeting with Van Gaal and he says, “Listen. I’m the boss. If I tell you to play, you play.” And I was like, “You’re the boss but if I tell you I will not play as long as Van der Vaart is playing, I’m not playing. If you can’t understand nothing just sit and wait and you will see me that I will not play.”

That was my last week at Ajax.

SI –Who is the best teammate you have ever had?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Patrick Vieira.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when he came to Juventus he came with big qualities, he had a strong mentality and every training he was like a monster. He wanted to destroy everybody, but not destroy in a negative way. In a positive way. Like how you train is how you play, and I watched him and I learned a lot.

SI – What is the achievement on the soccer field that you are most proud of?

IBRAHIMOVIC – That I played with many big stars, learned a lot from them and also have won so far 22 trophies.

SI – Who is the toughest defender you have ever faced?

IBRAHIMOVIC – I have many, many good defenders. I think [Paolo] Maldini is the one that was … he had everything. He was complete. He was strong, intelligent, aggressive—everything a defender should have.

SI – Who is the toughest goalkeeper you’ve tried to score on?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Gigi Buffon.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when I came to Juventus, I came as a young talent and suddenly in the locker room I saw Lilian Thuram and I saw [David] Trezeguet, I saw [Alessandro] Del Piero, I saw [Fabio] Cannavaro, I saw Emerson, I saw Pavel Nedvěd, I saw Buffon. That was like, “Jesus. Am I in a locker room where I see all of these superstars?” But at the same time I was thinking I am here because I am good, and, I mean, this is my confidence. And when we were training, to pass the defenders was already difficult, Cannavaro, Thuram, [Gianluca] Zambrotta—Jesus—but when I pass them, then Buffon came. And to pass him, it was like impossible to pass him, and that was in the training. Imagine that in the game. Even more difficult in the game.

SI – Who is the best player you have ever played against?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Oooff. Best player I ever played against? I mean I played against many, many good players, so I don’t know who to keep. I would say Ronaldo the Fenómeno.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because he was my idol and he was, as a football player, he was complete. There will never be, in my opinion, a better player than him.

here a nice interview with Ibra:
http://soccer.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/06/03/zlatan-ibrahimovic-sweden-psg-world-cup

some extracts:

SI – You start the book by writing about Guardiola and talk about how he wanted ordinary guys and Barcelona players acting like school boys, and that you didn’t fit into that. And that at one point you screamed at Guardiola in a game at Villarreal. What was it about Guardiola that bothered you so much?

IBRAHIMOVIC – In the beginning he was pretty involved to bring me there, and he convinced everybody to bring me there and even myself. Once I came there, everything was fantastic the first six months, and then something happened. I still don’t know yet what happened. If somebody has a problem where I come from—my area, let’s say—if I have a problem, I resolve it. And this never happened. I’m not the guy that goes to somebody and asks him, “Do you have a problem or something, though?” I train, I’m professional, and I respect the decision of the coach.

So I really don’t know what happened. He never called me in his office and said, “Listen, you don’t play good. You don’t play like I want you to play. You don’t look good. You don’t talk good.” Whatever. I don’t know why, but it didn’t happen, so for me that is a mystery because you buy somebody for 70 Million euros and after six months you don’t talk to him anymore. If you call yourself a man after that … That’s my opinion and my experience from what happened. And at the same time I learned a lot of things and it made me stronger. You learn from the negatives and from the positives. That’s the way it works.

SI – You also write about Mourinho, and you say, “Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for.” Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because that’s the guy who convinces you and manipulates you into doing things that he wants. Where[as] the other guy, Guardiola is a fantastic coach [but] as a person I see him differently. And Mourinho is like the different one. He is convincing you. He is manipulating you to do what he wants. And that’s why he was so successful and even a fantastic coach. So he has two things in one. So it was a totally different kind of character and personality.

SI – You write a little bit about Louis van Gaal, who was your manager at Ajax. He’s about to take over Manchester United. You don’t seem to like him all that much. Why not?

IBRAHIMOVIC – No, because he’s the old tradition. The old general. He’s the boss and everybody else can, how do you say—they’re soldiers. I mean, you have to have a little bit of feeling in the whole thing. Many big stars have problems with him because of the way he is. I understand if you’re 15 to 20 years old, you put the discipline there. Which is normal, because I was in Holland, I was in that school where he built up Ajax. And I understand it, but when you come to a team with 22 big stars, that’s what you treat them like? Like small boys?

We were in a dining room and sitting there until he says, “Ok, go ahead, now you can eat.” Then suddenly we could eat. So we could not eat before he says. And he was acting – we had a, we had a situation where he was the Director in Ajax and he was, yeah, he was the boss then. No problem. You’re the boss. And he was saying to me … We had a situation with [his Ajax teammate Rafael] Van der Vaart.

I talked about it in the book. [Van der Vaart] got injured and he was blaming me that I did it on purpose. I said to him I didn’t do it on purpose. And so it went on, and at the end I said will not play if Van der Vaart is to play because my own captain is attacking me and blaming me for injuring him. Instead of protecting your team as a captain outside the team and also inside the team, he is doing totally the opposite. He is trying now to attack me and get everybody against me. And we had a meeting with Van Gaal and he says, “Listen. I’m the boss. If I tell you to play, you play.” And I was like, “You’re the boss but if I tell you I will not play as long as Van der Vaart is playing, I’m not playing. If you can’t understand nothing just sit and wait and you will see me that I will not play.”

That was my last week at Ajax.

SI –Who is the best teammate you have ever had?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Patrick Vieira.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when he came to Juventus he came with big qualities, he had a strong mentality and every training he was like a monster. He wanted to destroy everybody, but not destroy in a negative way. In a positive way. Like how you train is how you play, and I watched him and I learned a lot.

SI – What is the achievement on the soccer field that you are most proud of?

IBRAHIMOVIC – That I played with many big stars, learned a lot from them and also have won so far 22 trophies.

SI – Who is the toughest defender you have ever faced?

IBRAHIMOVIC – I have many, many good defenders. I think [Paolo] Maldini is the one that was … he had everything. He was complete. He was strong, intelligent, aggressive—everything a defender should have.

SI – Who is the toughest goalkeeper you’ve tried to score on?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Gigi Buffon.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because when I came to Juventus, I came as a young talent and suddenly in the locker room I saw Lilian Thuram and I saw [David] Trezeguet, I saw [Alessandro] Del Piero, I saw [Fabio] Cannavaro, I saw Emerson, I saw Pavel Nedvěd, I saw Buffon. That was like, “Jesus. Am I in a locker room where I see all of these superstars?” But at the same time I was thinking I am here because I am good, and, I mean, this is my confidence. And when we were training, to pass the defenders was already difficult, Cannavaro, Thuram, [Gianluca] Zambrotta—Jesus—but when I pass them, then Buffon came. And to pass him, it was like impossible to pass him, and that was in the training. Imagine that in the game. Even more difficult in the game.

SI – Who is the best player you have ever played against?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Oooff. Best player I ever played against? I mean I played against many, many good players, so I don’t know who to keep. I would say Ronaldo the Fenómeno.

SI – Why?

IBRAHIMOVIC – Because he was my idol and he was, as a football player, he was complete. There will never be, in my opinion, a better player than him.

Comments
tiki_taka 10 years ago
Barcelona, France 367 9768

Bought him for 72M euros, and didnt even ask where was the problem, luckily for PEP results were on his side at that time. I still have a Zlatan Barça shirt, that i wear regularly, same with Etoo.

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shpalman 10 years ago
AC Milan, Italy 55 2252

yes, luckily. a great coach needs to be great also when managing big personalities, Guardiola doesn't seem to be that good in that regard.

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