It’s not uncommon for footballers to take a liking to the genre of biography or autobiography. Almost everyone who has achieved great success in the last decade has been portrayed, some professionals even several times: world stars like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
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The Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović, who indisputably belongs to the small elite of kicking superstars, has also emerged in the autobiographical genre. His first work “I am Zlatan” was already a sensation at the time. There were several reasons for this. On the one hand, Ibrahimović wrote it together with the Swedish writer David Lagercrantz put.
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The first biography tells the story of rising stars
On the other hand, it was the story of a social climber from a problem area. So it wasn’t just a sports book, but also a milieu study, a social report.
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Ibrahimović doesn’t even begin to claim that he was an easy character for his teammates. The robust assertiveness that he acquired growing up in the Rosengard district of Malmö also helped him as a professional footballer. And when he wrote about his career as a top player, then this biography read like a keyhole report.
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Dispute with Louis van Gaal without consequences
The dispute, if true, had no discernible consequences for Ibrahimović.
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No less sensational was his assessment of the former Barcelona and Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, who now trains Manchester City. The philosopher – meaning Guardiola – is not needed in the club. Ibrahimović and the dwarf – meaning Lionel Messi – would be enough.
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In his first biography, Zlatan Ibrahimović criticized his former coach Pep Guardiola, with whom he was at FC Barcelona.© dpa / picture alliance / S. Lau
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To this day, such a book stands relatively alone among the countless publications. Incidentally, Ibrahimović’s writing underpinned his status as the great unpredictable of world football.
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Ibrahimović attacks former coach Sacchi
“I’m Zlatan” was so outstanding that the follow-up “Adrenaline: What I haven’t told you yet” was bound to fall short. Although Ibrahimović, in the style of a straight speaker, continues to judge the greats of world football.
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Speaking of Arrigo Sacchi, AC Milan’s great coach, he says: “Sacchi was a revolutionary. He turned football upside down, I appreciate that. But he always got on my back and I never know why I got that right. I was even told that he advised Guardiola not to bring me to Barcelona. Two great friends, both of them. Not my friends. Sacchi had a column in the ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ and it came to me like he’s criticizing me more on a personal level than a professional one, I don’t accept that kind of thing.”
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Spine in gold colour
So things are also dazzling in “Adrenaline”. This is already conveyed by the design of the book: the spine of the book is golden.
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Zlatan Ibrahimović: “Adrenaline: what I haven’t told yet”
Malik Verlag, Munich 2022
288 pages, 22 euros
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However, “adrenaline” can also be viewed as a method to cope with the emerging mid-life crisis. Because one thing is clear: at the age of 40, even Zlatan Ibrahimović doesn’t believe that football is his future. He makes this clear right from the start:
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OK, I accept my destiny. I’m a god, but a god getting older. I’m finally acknowledging this, just as I’ve acknowledged that my body isn’t the same as it used to be. For years I ignored the signals my body was sending me before I decided to listen to them.
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Still, both books paint a fairly accurate self-image of a gamer who was keen to make himself even bigger than he already was.
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Ibrahimović was never a Champions League winner
Because for all the greatness that distinguishes the player, for all the successes: Zlatan Ibrahimović never won one thing – the Champions League.
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In one passage, he admits how painful this is for him – when the anthem of the Champions League is to be played at a performance: “No, that’s an insult because I never won the Champions League.”
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