But the best of
all time? Not for me – but it’s close. That honour goes to Barnes for
England against Brazil. More of that later.
Zlatan’s fourth goal in Stockholm against England on Wednesday night was totally different to any I can think of.
It
was just a fabulous goal, absolutely brilliant. A 35-yard, opportunist
overhead kick. To even attempt it is ridiculous but to pull it off is
sensational.
And yet, it was a real goalscorer’s goal, in terms of his awareness.
Despite being 35 yards out, his awareness of the goal was the same as it would be from eight yards.
He could see Joe Hart coming out and could already see the picture that was developing.
He
was working the goal out in his head even before he did it. His brain
was working the same way outside the box, as it does inside the box.
It’s
the old cliche ‘the goals don’t move’. But when you’re that far out and
your angles are all over the place, it’s completely different to being
within the parameters of the penalty box.
I’ve
watched a lot of Ibrahimovic in the last few years at close quarters,
through my work with Al Jazeera who now own PSG. I’ve praised him and
been critical of him, during his time in Milan, Turin, Barcelona and now
Paris.
I cover a lot of PSG games now and his goals this season have been fantastic – that’s why they paid so much money for him.
If
they do win the championship, he’ll be a huge part of it. He has grown
in stature and matured in the last few years. He’s captain of Sweden and
has taken on more responsibility.
His workrate still isn’t as eye-catching as his goalscoring but, hey, there have been many players like that over the years.
The one who jumps to mind is Glenn Hoddle. He had all the ability in the world but people said he didn’t work hard enough.
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