Zlatan Ibrahimović: The man with a big mouth but bigger talent 🦁 👑 | OneFootball

Lion. Legend. Footballing Ferrari. King. God.

Those are just some of the names Zlatan Ibrahimović bestowed upon himself throughout his illustrious playing career which came to an end this week at the age of 41.

The polarising Swedish striker never lacked for confidence. That much was clear even as a teenager at the start of his career when he turned down Arsène Wenger’s offer of a trial with Arsenal.

“Zlatan doesn’t do auditions,” he claims he quipped. “You either know me or you don’t.”

It was clearer still at the end of his career, when a section of visiting Hellas Verona fans stayed behind to jeer his surprise retirement announcement speech on the field at San Siro.

“Keep booing!” he responded. “Seeing me is the biggest moment of your year.”

Just another memorable one-liner as he signed off.

From his scathing takedowns of Pep Guardiola and John Carew to his insistence that the 2014 World Cup wouldn’t be worth watching without his presence, his quotes provided endless entertainment no matter how you felt about them.

For some, the gimmick was tired and cringeworthy. For others, it was refreshing to have a personality in the sport in an era when it is becoming trained out of the stars.

But the caricature that Ibrahimović became at a point is almost in danger of overshadowing one of the best players ever to play the game and certainly of his generation.

That is the conversation he belongs in.

The list of clubs he represented is almost a who’s who of the most prestigious teams in the world: Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Milan, PSG, Manchester United.

That helped him become the only man to net with six separate sides in the Champions League – a competition he scored on his debut in as well as in Serie A, LaLiga, Ligue 1 and the Premier League. Another feat no other player has achieved.

He was nominated for the Ballon d’Or on 11 separate occasions, won 32 major trophies and scored over 570 goals for both clubs and country.

And what about those goals?

His scrapbook is filled with the spectacular and outrageous. He attempted things other mere mortals dare not try. That overhead kick from an impossible angle, well away from goal, against England in Stockholm won the Puskás Award in 2013 but is very much in the conversation for the greatest goal ever scored on a football pitch.

It was not just the audacity to attempt things but the manner in which he executed that left your jaw on the floor time after time.

There were mazy dribbles as a precocious young talent at Ajax, thunderous piledrivers during his spell in Paris, long-range volleys befitting Hollywood while in LA, acrobatic flicks at Inter and majestic hooks across the city with Milan.

His spells at Juventus and Barcelona aren’t all that fondly remembered these days but even they were filled with moments of magic.

The angelic first time lob against Livorno and his spin in finish against Roma still come to mind from his spell in Turin, while he contributed a Clásico winner during his Barcelona days and did so with a finish that doesn’t get enough credit.

Nor does his time in Manchester.

He arrived to some ridicule and scorn from an English press who had never quite taken to his schtick.

But he left with three trophies under his belt (grabbing a brace as the hero of the EFL Cup final victory in 2017) and left as the oldest man to reach the 15-goal mark in a Premier League season at the age of 35.

You’d have even been forgiven for thinking that it was over for him at the elite level when he made the move to Major League Soccer (although he still netted 52 in 56 games there) but even then there was still time to defy the doubters again.

Upon returning to Europe with his great love Milan in 2019, he provided the veteran presence required to instil the winning mentality that led to them the Scudetto in 2022 – their first since Ibrahimović’s previous spell at the club.

His iconic dressing room speech and cigar twirling celebrations after the title was secured at Sassuolo were proof of his status as the leader of that exciting young group of Diavolo stars.

An ACL injury threatened to end his career in the worst possible way, only for the Swede to make a comeback, claim the record for Serie A’s oldest ever goalscorer in March and then hang up his boots on his own terms this week.

Even as he did so, he couldn’t resist one last little nod amid the tears to the brashness that defined much of his career.

“I’m saying goodbye to football but not to you,” he told the Milan supporters. “See you around … if you’re lucky!”

In watching his dazzling career, they already were.