The script is so perfect that it could have been written by Zlatan Ibrahimovic himself. He has plotted most if it, of course, but the emotional climax comes courtesy of a random draw. Wednesday night’s Champions League fixtures send Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s record goalscorer and the star of Paris Saint-Germain, back to Malmo, the home town he left 14 years ago on a mission to prove himself as one of the best footballers in the world.
Twenty-three major honours later – league titles and cups in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France – there is no doubt Ibrahimovic has accomplished his mission. So on Wednesday, one week after he scored the goals that secured Sweden’s qualification for Euro 2016, Ibrahimovic and his fellow Malmoers will celebrate his success. And each other.
“I am from Malmo, wherever I go I am representing Malmo,” Ibrahimovic told his next opponent’s website.
“I have become who I am because of Malmo. Everything started in Malmo and I feel like a Malmo lad. I move in a Malmo way and I think I talk in a Malmo way. Everything is Malmo for me. It was there I went to school, there I was spending time with my friends, there I played silly pranks. That is where I was free. The ‘proper stuff’ hadn’t started yet. That is where my story is. Somewhere inside me that is still my team, even if I represent PSG, Juventus or the other clubs. Malmo is still my team, there is no other one for me.”
When Ibrahimovic says of his homecoming that “if we had had a colosseum, we would have filled it”, he is not exaggerating. The tickets for the match at the 21,000-seat Swedbank Stadion sold out within 28 minutes of going on sale. Ibrahimovic himself has hired out the city’s main square, in which giant screens will be erected to broadcast the match to as many of the city’s 320,000 residents as possible. There is no other show in town: other sports in the city have rescheduled matches so as not to clash with The Return of Zlatan.
"It is hard to put into words how big he is here," says Jan Jonsson, a journalist for Sydsvenskan, southern Sweden's most popular regional newspaper. "It is very odd for those of us who have been following him since the start to see how things have turned out for him."
Ibrahimovic signed for Malmo at 16 but it took him a while to convince others he was as good as he so obviously believed. “His ego was so big that some people thought he wouldn’t last six months,” says Jonsson. “He tried to do everything by himself, didn’t seem to have any respect for his team-mates. And he refused to do what was expected: the club used to have a tradition that the youngsters would carry the water bottles for the first team – he just said: ‘I don’t do that.’”
Even though Malmo were struggling in the league, facing relegation for the first time in 65 years, Ibrahimovic was not trusted with a game. "It was not until Roland Andersson arrived as manager [in 1998] that things changed. He said: 'Why isn't that guy in the first team?' People said: 'Oh, that's Zlatan, don't mind him, he's too difficult.' Andersson said: 'But Jesus Christ, look at him! He's big, fast and has all the ability in the world, he has to play!'"
Ibrahimovic’s introduction to the first team came too late to save the club from the drop but he led them straight back to the top flight. And soon after he was bought by Ajax, the start of Europe-wide travels that would bring honours, riches and acclaim as a unique and thrilling talent.
“It turned out that the thing that people said would be a disadvantage – his ego – actually helped him because when he moved to big clubs he immediately felt like he belonged,” says Jonsson. “He had the confidence to go to Juventus and believe: ‘I am here because I am at least as good as Del Piero.’”
Ibrahimovic’s self-confidence is singularly strong but people from Malmo now like to think it is partially a reflection of them. “We are the third city in Sweden and I hear a lot of people in Stockholm always have issues with us,” says Jonsson. “We have a kind of confidence that makes us big enough to stand up for ourselves. But Zlatan has even more. His journey from the suburbs of Malmo to the top of the world proves that.”
It is a journey that carries all the more power because Ibrahimovic is the son of immigrants, a Bosnian Muslim father and Croatian Christian mother. “I remember when he started, at whatever ground he played there would be lots of immigrant children hanging on the fences to see him,” Jonsson says.
“He was a special hero to them. His performances showed them, ‘yes, I am Swedish and I can be a success’. That example gives him a potency beyond football. Like all countries Sweden has far-right groups but he poses them a problem because he comes from a neighbourhood that has at least 75 per cent immigrants and he always make a point of saying: ‘I am one of them.’ And he is more Swedish than everything.”
At 34 and with his contract at PSG, and perhaps his time at a top European club, due to expire next summer, it is a fine moment for Ibrahimovic to complete the circle by return to where his career began. But perhaps not the ideal circumstances: PSG need to win to be sure of reaching the next round, while Malmo need victory to avoid elimination. So exactly how hard will the Malmo crowd cheer for their returning great?
“They will greet him like a beloved opponent,” says Jonsson. “But then it will be all about Malmo. The worst thing that could happen is if it’s 1-1 with five minutes to go and PSG get a penalty. I have colleagues who are adamant that if that happens, Zlatan will miss on purpose.”
Could it be that a player who specialises in the spectacular has yet another surprise in store?
(Guardian service)
