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If it were up to Zlatan to decide whether people think of him as a great goal scorer or just a scorer of great goals, the answer would be pretty straight forward. By his own admission, he ‘doesn’t give a damn about what people think’. But, if you are a football fan, you can’t help but have an opinion about him. Love him or hate him, you just can’t deny that he is one of the reasons why we all love watching football.
Sure, we do like our Barcelona’s and Arsenal’s of this world, who just pass the other teams to death and walk the ball into the net, but that is not why we fell in love with football in the first place, is it? No, what got us hooked into the beautiful game, was not a death by a thousand strokes but a rather a moment of brilliance by our favorite player.
Because, the reason we, or at least I, fell in love with football was because of players, who, when all seems lost, seem to find some power inside themselves that has been missing for weeks if not months and suddenly provide passes that seemed impossible, moments before, driving forward past crunching tackles to scoring goals that brings a tear to the eyes of every football fan.
And that is precisely why Zlatan is so special. The reason is not because he tries the outrageous, which is laudable in itself, but because of the fact that, more often than not, he pulls that off. After all, few would have the self-confidence to even attempt the overhead kick against England like he did, let alone accomplish it.
For the sheer audacity and self-belief he deserved every plaudit that came his way. It is this ability to make the impossible possible and the make the ordinary look extraordinary that makes him stand a mile above his competition.
After all, if you were to have a collection of the 10 best goals of the season so far, Zlatan is sure to feature at least a few times on that list, even though the season is just a few months old.
The sheer amount of spectacular screamers that he scores just blows your mind away. Just a couple of weeks ago, he scored an outrageous goal against Bastia, which can only be described as a back heeled karate kick, and many thought that he couldn’t better that. And lo and behold, he goes out and scores an absolute humdinger from 35 yards against Anderlecht in the Champions League, which defied all laws of physics for just a fleeting moment and almost ripped the net out.
But it is not just the number of great goals that Zlatan scores, but the fact that, throughout his career, right from his Ajax days he has been a consistent goal scorer. Whilst some might argue that his record in the Champions League isn’t as good as it should be, the fact of the matter is that with six goals already, he is the leading scorer this campaign and is slowly making up for lost time.
Over the last six years, Zlatan is one of the few players to be have scored over 20 goals and rake in 10 or more assists in each campaign. With 11 goals already this season, you wouldn’t bet against him making it seven in a row this campaign. In fact, he managed 35 goals in each of his last two campaigns and everywhere he has been, bar Barcelona, he has been the focal point in attack and every attack has been through him.
Even at Barcelona, where he was apparently not good enough, he still scored 22 goals and managed 15 assists in the single season that he was there.
Everywhere he has been, not only has he scored goals, great ones at that, but also created plenty of chances for his team mates. In a sense, he is your typical modern center forward. Not only is Zlatan adept at splitting any defense with his eye for a pass, he is, at the same time, able to pick the right spot and place the ball in the goal from anywhere as has been evident right throughout his career.
There are footballers, there are great footballers and then there are players like Zlatan, who make you believe that for all the pace, passing and the pressing associated with the modern game, it is still the game you fell in love with. With the ability to take your breath away with silky skills and conjure something out of nothing, Zlatan is every bit of the magician that many think he is. Although he has enough goals to have an entire show reel made out of them, he still carries on, as if nothing really happened.
Perhaps the reason there is so much vitriol with the sheer mention of his name is because of his arrogance. Whilst it is true that arrogance isn’t really an endearing trait, the fact that Zlatan can walk the talk is something that he has in favor and his sheer honesty and openness is something that many footballers lack. He has a certain charisma that goes beyond things as commonplace as goals or assists and makes everyone sit up and take notice of him.
After all, not many would have the guts to turn down Arsenal, a side, which at the time had the likes of Henry, Bergkamp and Viera, at the age of 19, because they felt that having a trial put them in a weak position. But, he did and turned down Arsenal as a teenager, hoping that it would be the right decision. Now, after more than a decade, after all the glorious goals and the amazing assists, when Wenger himself admitted that Zlatan is the best player in the world right now, Zlatan knew that it was the right decision, after all.
