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Football

10th Nov 2015

Fascinating Zlatan Ibrahimovic interview in which he distils his remarkable ego

Driven to succeed

Patrick McCarry

“There can be only one boss.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at Juventus aged 22 and off the back of three noteworthy seasons at Ajax. He had been hurried out of the club, however, after injuring midfield star Rafael van der Vaart on international duty.

In his way, at Juve, were David Trezeguet and Alessandro del Piero. No bother to the Swede.

Ibrahimovic won Sweden’s Footballer of the Year accolade for the 10th time this week. That is some going.

To mark the honour, the PSG striker gave a couple of interviews to the Swedish press. In this fascinating interview with Aftonbladet [below], Ibrahimovic describes the singular motivation that drives him on to great deeds.

“Who the boss is? In this team, there is only one boss,” he declares. “Everybody knows who it is.”

Asked by the reporter if he is that boss, he replies ‘Of course’ before breaking into a huge grin.

“I like to grab opportunities. I don’t like to stand in the shadows. I am meant to be first in line and in the spotlight.

“But that is the type of person I am. I doesn’t mean you have to be like that to succeed.”

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