There is still a lot of Zlatan

Much has been said in recent days of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record as the top scorer in history and it is a massive achievement. However, in Italy there is another great star of world football who has achieved a very important milestone. Ibrahimovic has scored his 500 goal (and 501 as well) in his professional club career.

The Sweden is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world so far in this century and has become an idol and reference for many young fans and players who have seen in Ibrahimovic an atypical player who has turned what seemed to be a limited physical frame in terms of skills and technique. Zlatan proved and continues to prove that his physique (1.95 m tall) is not an impediment to being a skillful player who is capable of developing both an effective and aesthetic game.

However, despite being known for his ability with the ball at his feet, Ibrahimovic has been a fantastic scorer during his career that has made the most of his physical and technical resources and even his background in Taekwondo.

At the beginning of his career, the Sweden, who made his professional debut for Malmo FF in his country, did not stand out too much in his scoring role and his best records were obtained when the team played the second tier of Swedish football. At Malmo FF he would score 18 goals in his entire time there.

AFC Ajax signed him in 2001, scoring 48 goals for the Dutch club that would make him known worldwide thanks to important performances in both the Eredivisie and the UEFA Champions League. Juventus FC would be his next destination where he would score 26 goals in two seasons, ending with Calciopoli, which would lead La Vecchia Signora to play in Serie B and Zlatan at Inter Milan.

With the Nerazzurris he would obtain the biggest leading role he had had in any club until that point in his career and that would lead him to progressively improve his number of goals, scoring 66 in 3 seasons. He then he would be a year at FC Barcelona where he would achieve 22 goals. His bad relationship with Pep Guardiola would make him return to Italy, in this case to Inter Milan’s eternal rival, AC Milan.

With the seven times European champions, Zlatan would score 56 goals in this first period with the Rossoneri club. From there he would go to Paris Saint Germain where his scoring numbers would have an important boost since he scored 156 goals in 180 games with the Parisians.

Then, he would arrive in England, with Manchester United FC, scoring 29 goals and from where he would take a step that seemed to announce the end of his professional career, at least, at the highest European level: he would go to play in MLS with the LA Galaxy and he would show his quality with 53 goals in 58 games. Finally, he would return to Italy, again with AC Milan, and already has 27 goals in 37 games, scoring the last two against FC Crotone this Sunday.

At 39 it seems that Zlatan still has a lot to offer. Let’s remember that he is the second top scorer in the current Serie A (tied with Lukaku) with 14 goals, only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time top scorer in football history. Not bad for Zlatan.