Italy

Hassan Chamas

Nine league fixtures to go and Internazionale are on course to make it four successive Scudetto wins on the trot. With the team conducted by Portuguese tactician Jose Mourinho having encountered about all major rivals so far – a dicey expedition to Turin’s Juventus still awaits – the lure of a 17th championship and the fact that this will equal cross town rivals AC Milan’s title victories doubles the pleasure. However, the reality is that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Inter’s supposed star-man, has failed to make an impact in the big events and this raises queries as to how good the attacker really is, with many pundits evaluating him as an “overrated” player.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a name that any side would love to have on their books, no question about it. The Swedish international has left his mark on nearly every team he ever had the honour of representing: As of the moment of writing, “Ibra” has played over 70 games at each of the three big professional clubs he has been at: Ajax, Juventus, and Inter. At Ajax, he managed only 35 goals in three seasons. Following his move to Juventus and spending rollercoaster times there, his stats lowered to 23 strikes during two seasons with the Bianconeri. Following Calciopoli, the Malmo-born forward was prized away by Inter for €24.8M. Since then, Zlatan has flourished in Milan, managing 51 goals so far.

With a goal ratio of 0.48 strikes per game; or a goal every other two contests, Zlatan’s figures remain amazing ones, but they are nowhere near as impressive as the ones held by Brazilian Ronaldo, who holds a colossus proportion of 0.72, or those of Ruud van Nistelrooy, with 0.62. Either way, the message still remains the same: Plug Ibracadabra into your starting eleven and you are guaranteed a decent goal tally at the end of the term.

Furthermore, the goal contribution made by Ibrahimovic to Inter this season remains a sizable one: The former Ajax hit-man has 19 strikes to his name so far in the league, out of the 54 goals that the Nerazzurri  have been able to score. With more than a third of the spoils claimed to his name, Ibrahimovic well and truly tops every team’s Christmas wish list. What’s more captivating is the factor that Ibra always leaves room for enhancement: During the first season with Inter, he only managed 15 goals. The following spell, he improved by two strikes. This time around, he holds 19 goals to his name, but with a hefty chunk of games still left to be contested, further progress is an inescapable certainty.

But to go on with blind praise and pronounce him as the best striker out there is nothing short of silly. After all, the poacher isn’t even out on his own as the leading goalscorer in his respective league, equaled by Marco Di Vaio, the Bologna forward. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never ended any season as his league’s top-scorer so this raises a few eyebrows over just how good he is. At 27 years of age, the current Serie A Player of the Year has also never surpassed the 20+ mark (he surely must this season), a prerequisite that many consider to be the limiting fringe that separates the boys from the men.

Adding insult to injury is the truth that the player never really shrugged-off the tag of being a big-game flop: Ibrahimovic just seems to “disappear” whenever he is desperately needed to step up to the plate. Out of his goal record this season, only four came against “big” teams: Two against AS Roma on separate occasions, and the brace he recently added to his name against Cesare Prandelli’s Fiorentina. His tendency to underperform against the big boys recently manifested itself in the last 16 Champions League stage: Zlatan showed glimpses of the magic that affiliated him with the moniker “Ibracadabra”, but he certainly wasn’t Inter’s epicenter on the pitch. Despite not making it quite a walk in the park for Edwin van der Sar at Old Trafford – he hit the woodwork and was close to scoring at times – the Swedish star never really looked like he was going to collect the Man of the Match award.

On the international front, Ibrahimovic’s fortunes do not seem to vary much, as he has only managed 20 goals in 56 caps, which is not much to cheer about. As a matter of fact, his register is pretty much eclipsed by that of other “Blagult” legends such as the national team’s leading top-scorer Sven Rydell, who capped off a most illustrious career by scoring 49 times in just 43 appearances while emblazing the yellow jersey.

Another one of Ibra’s weakest points remains his inconsistency: The former Juventus forward can seemingly go through long periods of drought, at one point reaching a two-year dearth while away on international duty. At Juventus he used to amaze critics one week, then be as good as watching the game at home the next: During his first season at Juve, his name made headlines, and was often favoured ahead of skipper Alessandro Del Piero on Fabio Capello’s team-sheet. And just as his stock was preparing to propel through Serie A’s roof, boom! He vanished the following term.

After the goal with Ajax that introduced him to the rest of the football world, Zlatan’s name was the next big thing to make a breakthrough from Sweden after “King” Henrik Larsson. He may not be the fastest out there, but then again, things have distorted since people became familiar with Brazil’s Ronaldo beating the defender, the goalkeeper, and coolly tucking the ball into the net, as opposed to nowadays, where strikers tend to compensate for any of their pace-related deficiencies with a good, tall structure and the development of a killer impulse that instructs them how to deliberately position themselves inside the 18-yard box. That being said, it is clear that Ibrahimovic’s 1.92m posture perfectly suits the relative slow rhythm of Italian football.

Along with David Villa and Samuel Eto’o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic certainly fits the bill as one of the best strikers out there. Blessed with terrific ball skills and an remarkable eye for goal, his play alone would boost any league’s attendance record. But the Internazionale star knows that, while he is great, he’s nowhere near excellent. His declarations subsequent to the Inter loss that his best “wasn’t enough” against Manchester United shows that this star is his own personal critic. He’s in no way a big-game flop, but isn’t quite the cream of the crop. While he may be hyped as a “megastar” at times, especially by his coaches and Inter mogul Massimo Moratti, his level isn’t that of an anxious 18-year old either. Luckily for him, at 27, he still has his best years ahead of him. People have talked about him winning the prestigious Ballon d’Or somewhere down the line, an exploit that wouldn’t surprise many should it happen – and probably will – in the years to come.