Interviews

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Great Goals Retold

The Great Swede tells FourFourTwo all about the goal he considers one of his best - a mazy run and tidy finish in an Eredivisie match between Ajax and NAC Breda...

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"In 2004, I was at Ajax and Juve were about to sign me. [Rafa] Van der Vaart wasn’t speaking to me because he said I injured him in training on purpose. I didn’t and despite me apologising, he wouldn't accept it.
 
"When I entered the pitch for the game against NAC Breda, the Ajax fans whistled me as they supported Van der Vaart. He was injured and could not play. I did play, scored twice and made four assists.
 

"For one of the goals, I received the ball with a defender on my back. Another tried to challenge me but I kept the ball from both. Then I turned and saw the goal. I was going towards the goal dribbling past players – bam, bam, bam – as I searched for a moment to shoot. It did not come so I kept on, going past different players. Then I was past the goalkeeper. I decided to go backwards to get a better angle to score. 

"I went past the same player again. I used to play with him, but didn’t realise it. He said to me: ‘Zlatan, I thought we were friends.’ I apologised because I didn’t realise it was a former team-mate. It was my best goal.

"Van der Vaart? His reaction was his problem. I did not care. The next day I signed for Juve."

This interview originally featured in the November 2010 edition of FourFourTwo magazine.

Topics
Great Goals Retold, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ajax, Juventus, Barcelona, Milan, PSG, Sweden, Eredivisie, Rafael van der Vaart, Malmö FF, Inter Milan, NAC Breda