Just a couple of days, in a near-comeback that was rudely interrupted by Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick to make it 4-2 for Portugal on aggregate on Tuesday night, the camera showed Zlatan Ibrahimovic applauded his brilliance. I was shocked and I even mentioned it on my radio show on Wednesday morning/afternoon that it was an 'epic' moment considering that the popular opinion is that he is arrogant.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has told Gazzetta dello Sport that he was not clapping for Ronaldo but was motivating his players to keep pushing.
Ibrahimovic is quoted as saying “Was I applauding Ronaldo? No, I was just trying to encourage my team-mates. I clapped my hands to cheer them up and motivate them for the last few minutes. We had already gone down before. It is important not to give up until the final whistle because the unexpected can always happen.”
One can only imagine what transpired between Zlatan and his teammates in the dressing room after the game as he said “He’s obviously a great player, but we allowed him way too much space. Nobody’s as good as he is on the counterattack. This game once more showed his biggest qualities.”
Finally, on the Cristiano Ronaldo/Ballon d’Or debate now raging: “Is he the best player in the world? I can only say that he scored one goal more than I did.”
*Sniff sniff* Do you smell it too?
No comments:
Post a Comment