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Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice to almost single-handedly take his country into the Euro 2016 at the expense of their Scandinavian rivals Denmark. The second leg of the play-off in Denmark ended in 2-2 draw with Ibrahimovic scoring both of Sweden’s goals as they qualified for next summer’s tournament with a 4-3 aggregate win.
Sweden had come into last night’s encounter with a narrow 2-1 win over the Danes in the first leg of the playoffs. Incidently, Ibrahimovic got on the scoresheet in that game as well as he converted a second-half penalty to win the game for Sweden.
There was a lot of banter among the fans of the two rivals going into the high-voltage clash. And with a berth in the Euro Championship at stake, the mind games reached fever pitch before the playoff in Denmark.
Ibrahimovic was goaded with talks of him having to retire if the Danes were successful in dumping the Swedes from the Euros. However, the PSG hitman retaliated in style as he scored three of his side’s four goals over the two legs of the playoffs. He was also at his arrogant best with his remarks towards the vanquished Danes.
"There was the thought that this would send me into retirement. I sent their entire country into retirement," he told Sweden's Kanal 5.
Ironically Ibrahimovic's goals really did send two Danish figures into retirement as coach Morten Olsen retired after 15 years with Denmark and defender Lars Jacobsen said he would step away after 80 caps.
It is destiny that I will finish at Euro 2016: Ibrahimovic
Ibrahimovic also said he "couldn't describe" how it felt to qualify.
"All of the chat before, and we took ourselves to the playoffs," he said.
"Many were disappointed with that, but we still had a chance.
"We got Denmark, everything was against us. We hadn't won [against them], I hadn't scored a goal, but we stayed patient.
"We knew what we wanted: the people who wanted to go to the European Championships most would get there, and that was us."
The 34-year-old as hinted that this could he his last major tournament for Sweden and believes it was destiny that he has a chance to play at next summer’s Euros.
His fellow striker Marcus Berg credited Ibrahimovic with seeing his team through and praised his captain’s contributions.
"How much do we owe to Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Of course, a lot, but we are a team and everyone works really hard," Berg said. "Of course it's a blessing that we can have him in front to score these important goals. He's really important but everyone did a massive job today."
