Zlatan Ibrahimović has played at some truly iconic clubs in his time and the 38-year-old forward is now one of the most recognisable players on the planet, as well as one of the most, shall we say… confident.
The big Swede has rarely been shy about his abilities, dividing fans who either love him for his honesty or hate him for his arrogance. Yet, no fans have fallen foul of the former AC Milan forward as badly as his hometown fans of Malmo, where his footballing journey began.
Zlatan was once a Malmo legend. So much so that the club erected a statue of their former player, which was unveiled in October 2019. By the 5th of January, however, vandals had sawed the statue off at the ankle, causing it to collapse. In between the unveiling and the eventual downfall, the nose had been cut off, it had been spray painted and some had even attempted to set it on fire.
But why? What caused such a loving relationship between Malmo’s fans and their greatest ever export – a player to feature for Ajax, Juventus, Barcelona, both Inter Milan and AC Milan, PSG, Manchester United and LA Galaxy – to turn so sour?
The fallout revolves around the striker’s decision to invest in Malmo’s rival club Allsvenskan club Hammarby, and claiming that he wanted to make them, and I quote, “the biggest in Scandinavia”. Ouch!
What a way to throw cold water in the face of a 25-year relationship with Malmo fans. The vandalization of the statue is obviously the behaviour of a small section of Malmo fans but the general disappointment across the majority of Malmo’s supporters is evident.
Zlatan may never have won a trophy with Malmo, but his success worldwide evoked a sense of pride for Malmo fans who got to see him grow from a young homegrown lad into the icon he is today.
Many fans are not even that bothered with the investment itself, rather the sentiment behind his words being more than Malmo fans can handle.