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Zlatan Ibrahimovic has proven time and again that he is a man who knows how to make an entrance.
In a distinguished career, the 36-year-old has made a habit of endearing himself to fans almost instantly by showing off his brilliance soon after moving.
Given that he is a player who has been prone to moving – he has now featured for nine clubs in a senior career that has spanned 19 years – it has been one of the secrets to his success and impressive popularity the world over.
Moreover, he has enjoyed a storied career in terms of winning trophies, picking up domestic titles in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France.
And, of course, he is the record goalscorer for the Swedish national time, though his introduction to the international scene was one of his rare let downs as they were held scoreless by the Faroe Islands when he made his bow.
Ibrahimovic is arguably the most spectacular player of his generation, with an eye for scoring a volume of eye-catching goals that perhaps no-one else is capable of. Here are five of his best first impressions.
LA Galaxy vs Los Angeles FC
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s bow for LA Galaxy against Los Angeles FC is liable to go down in the football annals as the definitive debut performance.
As the Galaxy unveiled his signing following his release by Manchester United, Ibrahimovic took out an advert in the local paper that simply said: ‘Welcome to Zlatan’.
If local residents did not know who the Swede was when he arrived with such a characteristically grand proclamation, little over a week later, they certainly did.
Ibrahimovic might only have played 19 minutes of the derby, dubbed ‘El Trafico’, but his impact on it was profound. The Galaxy had trailed 3-0 at one juncture but had hauled it back to 3-1 by the time he was introduced.
Just his sheer presence seemed to lift those around him, with Chris Pontius promptly halving the deficit.
Within six minutes of coming on, Ibra had sent a stunning 45-yard shot into the net, then he completed the comeback with a header from a testing angle with only seconds left on the clock.
“I heard the crowd say: ‘We want Zlatan, we want Zlatan.’ So I gave them Zlatan,” he said in typical fashion after the encounter.
He has set his standard high in the MLS, which is sure to love the attacker’s larger-than-life personality.
PSG v Lorient (11/8/2012)
Orchestrating dramatic comebacks on debut is nothing new for Zlatan. Indeed, he performed similar heroics on his Ligue 1 bow for Paris Saint-Germain, the club he joined in 2012 after leaving AC Milan.
At that time, it was an audacious move from the Swede as PSG were still trying to establish themselves as the leading force in France, having failed to make the most of their first summer of big investment as Montpellier had stunningly pipped them to the league title.
In came Thiago Silva and Zlatan, and things were meant to instantly turn around. It soon became apparent that Le Championnat would be no walk in the park for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who trailed 2-0 at home to Lorient on the opening day of the season as a Maxwell own goal and a Jeremy Aliadiere had the Bretons in command.
With 64 minutes on the clock, however, Ibra made his move, levelling the game before securing a share of the spoils in stoppage time with a penalty.
Although PSG would go on and win the league, they made a frustrating start to the campaign that was typified in this outing, as they drew three successive games.
He also scored on his Champions League debut for PSG against Dynamo Kiev and his Coupe de France debut for the Parisians, netting a decisive double against their great rivals Marseille in the last 16, having previously been rested in that competition.
Ibra ended his time in Paris as the club’s top scorer, but has since been overtaken by Edinson Cavani.
Ajax v Lyon (17/9/2002)
Although Ajax were the club where Ibra first started to make his name on a European scale, it took him a while to get going in Amsterdam. Co Adriaanse, who was his coach there when he arrived from Molde, was reticent to use the mercurial Swede, whose fortunes started to change in the autumn of 2001 when Ronald Koeman took over the running of the first team.
Barely 12 months later and Zlatan was lining up in the Champions League for the first time, against French champions Lyon.
Ten minutes into the match, he showed his potential. Having linked with Maxwell, he gathered the ball in an improbable position on the corner of the box before stepping inside and sending a searing drive into the OL goal off the post. Shortly afterwards, he had tapped home what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 success.
It would be two years later that he finally moved to Juventus, having scored many memorable goals for Ajax, including an outrageous solo striker against NAC on August 22 – just nine days before he completed his move.
However, Ibrahimovic would never enjoy success in the Champions League and was never truly able to shake off his tag as a flop in the knockout stages of the competition, in which he had an infamously poor scoring record.
Fiorentina v Inter (9/9/2006)
In August 2006, Zlatan completed a move to Inter from Juventus and soon revealed that it was something of a dream to play for the club as “it is the team I supported as a boy”.
A month later, he was making his Serie A debut for the Nerazzurri in an away match against Fiorentina and instantly proved a hit with the club’s supporters by helping the team to a 3-2 success.
Again, it took him only 10 minutes to make a lasting impact on the game, gathering possession at the edge of the box before coolly rolling a pass to his left in an almost instinctive manner. Powering forward in support was the unlikely figure of Esteban Cambiasso, a man never known for his prowess in front of the net throughout a fine career. However, the pass to the Argentine was perfect and the finish was assured.
Wearing the No.8 shirt, in the second half he buried a technically difficult first-time shot to propel his side into a 3-0 lead. It was just as well he scored as Fiorentina pulled a couple of goals back through Luca Toni, meaning the Swede was the decisive factor.
Manchester United v Leicester (8/7/2016)
There were doubts over Ibrahimovic’s ability to make an impact in the Premier League when he moved to Manchester United on a Bosman transfer aged 35, but he rapidly allayed the doubters.
He had been previously criticised for a poor scoring record against English opposition in the Champions League, but on his debut for the Red Devils, he rapidly showed his ability to adapt.
In the Community Shield, which was technically his competitive bow for Jose Mourinho’s men, he headed home an Antonio Valencia cross with seven minutes left in a 2-1 victory over Premier League champions Leicester.
Those who dismissed that as a glamorised friendly occasion were soon made to shut their mouths as Ibra made a similar impact in the Premier League. On debut against Bournemouth, he scored with a little more than an hour played to give his side a 3-0 advantage.
If there were any remaining sceptics, they were surely silenced when he then got both goals in a 2-0 success over a handy Southampton side a week later.
His beginnings in English football may not have been the most spectacular, but they were arguably the most important for securing a legacy for himself in the country.
