One of the most Zlatan things yet to happen on this planet has now happened, with the Swedish star being immortalised with a bronze statue that’s been erected in his home town of Malmo, outside of Friends Arena, where his professional career began 20 years ago.
The Swedish Football Association commissioned the statue of their country’s all-time leading goalscorer four years ago, and Swedish artist, Peter Linde painstakingly created it. The finished statue stands at 8ft 9in tall and weighs almost 500kg. Not far off scale then, if Zlatan himself were to be believed. As far as statues go though, this is not a bad effort at all. It certainly could’ve been worse.
With over 30 titles from across the world to his name, there aren’t many that would argue that Ibrahimovic – who turned 38 on 3 October – is deserving of his own statue. “You have players who win trophies. You have players who get statues. Then you have players who receive both trophies and statues,” he explained at the unveiling. “It’s a symbol for those who do not feel welcome, do not fit in or feel that they do not look like everyone else. If I can, they can. I'm not special in any way, even though I'm best at what I do.” Stay humble big man.
Zlatan will be aiming to fire LA Galaxy to glory in the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, starting with the round one game against Minnesota United on 20 October.
