How A Thief Became Football's Deadliest Striker

Zlatan Ibrahimovic grew up bullied beaten and so poor that his family couldn't even afford to eat as a teenager he stole food and even bicycles just to survive and probably should have ended up in prison for it but with all the odds stacked against him somehow he came out on top becoming one of the greatest football players of all time so how did a poor bike Thief write his name in history by becoming football's deadliest Striker this is the full story of Zlatan Ibrahimovic came like a king who looks like a a b for Ibrahimovic

oh come on come on I'm not the typical Swedish guy but I put Sweden on the map so on the 3rd of October 1981 zlantan Ibrahimovic was born and he wasn't dealt the best of hands to begin with he grew up in a rough neighborhood in Malmo Sweden and was bullied as a child I know it's hard to imagine the 6'5 self-proclaim named lion was ever bullied but he was small as a kid he had a big nose and a lisp so he was an easy target as a kid his mother would often hit him

with a wooden spoon the spoon would break on his head and she would then make him go out and buy a new one just to do it again Zlatan was living with his single mother and his five siblings whom she was struggling to support by herself with her job as a cleaner when he was nine his mother was arrested so Zlatan was sent off to live with his father where things didn't get much better his father did his best and sacrificed everything to give Zlatan a shot at football even going as far as to delay

rent just to pay for zlatan's football Academy but this had its repercussions this lack of money often led to a lack of food and as Zlatan described an empty fridge with occasional milk ham and cheese this desperation sent Zlatan down a rough path where he would often shoplift just to be able to eat and would even take this as far as stealing bikes just as to support himself it's crazy to think that if Zlatan continued down that path he'd just be some criminal in a Swedish prison and wouldn't be the icon we know today but

luckily Zlatan had one thing going for him he was a wizard with his feet having grown up playing street football but growing up Zlatan was more than just a football player he also got his black belt in Taekwondo but his love for football took over thanks to his Idol Ronaldo Nazario now this rough upbringing of his definitely molded him into the tough guy we know today he had to be tough just to survive we see it in the way he plays football and he even says that to play well he needs to be angry what

made him even angrier was that he felt inferior to the other kids he had no money he had worse clothes but he told himself one day I'll show them this was his motivation to work even harder at age 15 zuton was part of the malma Youth Academy and was ready to give up on football he was close to quitting to go work full-time at the Docks but his coach at the time managed to convince him to stay soon after zlantan signed his first professional contract with malma and joined the senior team at just 17 years

old now in zlatan's position growing up 99 out of 100 guys would have given up they would have quit with the impossible odds they were given but Zlatan was different he was the one out of a 100 and he was about to prove his worth as he was finally a professional football player in 1999 Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined the malma first team he spent a couple of years there where he picked up a total of 16 League goals in 40 games but his talent was clear for everyone to see at 19 years old Zlatan transferred from

malma to Ajax for9 million EUR which is where his career would shift into a whole new gear he was actually close to signing for Arsenal but the manager arson Wenger wanted him to do a trial first but even as a teenager Zlatan found this offer insulting saying I don't do trials you either want me or you don't this is where we start to see the ego and the confidence of zanton which would only grow as his career went on and you'll see a lot more of this soon but anyway for now zanton was 19 years

old and playing for Ajax he took some time to get going until a change in management where Ronald keman took charge which is when zlan finally became the main man for Ajax he spent three years at the club winning two League titles and scoring 48 goals in 110 games during this time he made his debut for the Swedish national team and on National Duty he got himself into some serious controversy with his aax teammates in 2004 Sweden played the Netherlands in a friendly where Zlatan ended up injuring rapael vandervart his aax teammate vandervart came out

and claimed that Zlatan did this on purpose even though they were teammates at Club level which made Zlatan Furious when he returned to aax he went up to him and told him I didn't injure you on purpose and you know that if you accuse me again I'll break both your legs and that time it will be on purpose after this argument the aax fans weren't on zaton side so on his first game back the crowd booed him but within 90 minutes the booze turned into Applause when he scored this goal this was one of zon's

greatest goals but not his greatest because we'll get to a few of those soon but this is the goal that put him into the spotlight of your European football and triggered bigger clubs to come knocking at this time he also started to work with agent Mino Rola who would play a huge role throughout zlatan's whole career and together they engineered an 18 million euro move from Ajax to Juventus which would Mark the start of zlatan's Italian domination 22 years old and hungry Zlatan arrived in turet and was thrown right into the starting 11 because of

an injury to the main striker in his first season with Juventus he formed part of a deadly attack with Tres and delpiero who helped Juventus lift the CIAA title Zlatan pitched in with 16 League goals and was given the foreign football player of the year award in Italy he was also awarded the Swedish Player of the Year award for the first time this was an award he would go on to win 14 more times in his career this season also saw Ibrahimovic fall victim to a severely brutal tackle from Marco mattiazzi and this is important

because zlat isn't one to just forgive and forget but he'd have to wait to get his revenge but don't worry because he definitely got it as you'll soon see but anyway after such a great start to life in Italy that summer Juventus allegedly rejected a70 million euro bid for him from Real Madrid but later the truth came out which was that this was a madeup story by agent Mina Rola to increase lon's market value but anyway moving into his second season with Juventus things took a turn for the worse as he was shifted out on

on to the wing and struggled to be as effective as the previous season they still won the ca but the Juventus fans grew extremely frustrated with Zlatan but he would prove to be the least of uv's problems as they had just got caught for match fixing and were immediately relegated to siia meaning that next season Zlatan would be playing in the second division of Italian football thankfully for Zlatan Mina Rola had his back once again and managed to get him out of Juventus by threatening legal action on the club so he was able to sign

for Italian Rivals Inter Milan for a total fee of €25 million a goal on his inter debut and he was already back to his best leading the line with Hernan Crespo inter won the Syria with a record 97 points in his first season there zoton says that he supported inter as a child so this was really a proud achievement for him in his second season there he just got even better as he was becoming the focal point of this attack winning a second title in a row and picking up the senia a Player of the

Year award he was now considered as one of the best football players in the world and he matched that status by signing a new contract making him the highest paid football player in the world now going into the 200829 season Jose Mourinho arrived at inter and it was love at first sight between him and Zlatan ibra had his best season ever scoring 29 goals winning a third syia in a row and a second player of the year award in a row this Bond he built with Jose Mourinho would be important throughout his career but more

on that soon this season zlantan also scored the city a goal of the Season which was a great goal still isn't his greatest goal ever because that's coming in a couple of years time now despite dominating syia and winning five titles in a row across two clubs zlan was still missing the Champions League trophy so he decided to move to the reigning Champions Barcelona but little did he know that this would be the start of a nightmare season for zlantan which was going to be one of the biggest mistakes in his entire career but before

we get into this horror year I need your help you see I'm trying to hit 100K Subs this year so I'm asking you to please subscribe to the channel I really appreciate the support and I know we can do it together but anyway enough rambling on this now let me tell you about zlatan's nightmare year in Barcelona a 27-year-old zaton landed in Barcelona for a fee of40 million and a swap for Samuel etto and was arguably the best striker in the world at the time Zlatan got off to a Rolls-Royce start scoring in his first

five consecutive league matches things were looking great he was happy with his manager Pep Guardiola he was at the best club in Europe and he was looking like he was finally going to win the champions league but one player ruined this all for him Lionel Messi was the Golden Boy at Barcelona he was the best player in the world at the time and midweight through the season he decided he wanted to start playing through the center in a false nine position the problem with this is that was zlatan's position meaning he got shifted out wide

and even onto the bench at times to accommodate Messi in zlatan's autobiography he had this to say about the situation it started well but then Messi started to talk he wanted to play in the middle not on the wing so the system changed from 433 to 451 I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed now even though though Zlatan lost his position he still scored a decent amount of goals with 21 goals for the season but as the season progressed things only got worse for him Barcelona made

their way to the Champions League semifinal and Drew Inter Milan zlatan's old club and they lost after this game Zlatan lost it with Guardiola and told him you haven't got any balls you can go to hell Zlatan was expecting pep to respond to the confrontation but that was actually the last conversation they ever had together from that day on pep would avoid Zlatan in training and refuse to communicate with him which is why Zlatan now describes him as a spineless coward which showed a severe contrast to the love he had for manager Jose Mourinho in

the season before but to make matters even worse inter midon went on to win the champions league and the treble meaning zoton's transfer in search of a Champions League trophy was a massive mistake now at this point only one thing was clear and that was that zlatan's future with Guardiola and Barcelona was definitely over so after just one season in Spain he transferred back to Milan but not to Inter Milan instead to their fiercest Rivals AC Milan where he was going to take over C A once again Ibrahimovic initially signed for AC Milan on a

loan deal but made it permanent after the first season when he arrived in Milan he made a statement where he had this to say this move gives me more adrenaline I've moved here to win the Champions League with Milan I want to win the the double now zlan must have some Champions League curse because this season Barcelona won the Champions League meaning that two years in a row he transferred to a new club to win the tournament but the club he transferred from won it instead both times despite his Champions League heartaches he tore up

the city on with AC Milan winning the league in his first season meaning he won it with three different clubs ending Inter Milan's dominance as they won the last five titles zoton spent two seasons in Milan where he was simply world class scoring a total of 56 goals in 85 matches he also chipped in with a lot of assist as his all round play was the best it's ever been but obviously this is Lan Ibrahimovic so his time in Milan had its share of controversies and most notably what happened on the 14th of November 2010

because he sent Maru maazi to the hospital in a Milan Derby Zlatan faced off against Marco and he finally had his chance to get revenge on the Italian Defender for that horror tackle he gave him all those years ago so zatan didn't hold back with a Kung Fu kick to the chest which sent maazi to the emergency room after the game Zlatan came out and said that this was completely intentional and that he had to wait four years for this moment to finally come his time at AC Milan also saw him score the greatest goal

of his entire career but this actually came with the national team in a game against England Sweden won this game 4 to2 Zlatan scored all four goals but his fourth goal was something else didn't quite get that right oh look at that that is absolutely astonishing this goal was awarded the puskus award in 2013 for being the best goal scored in the entire year and that was definitely deserved now come the end of zlatan's second season with Milan they failed to win the ca as Juventus picked up the title but Zlatan had his best individual

season yet scoring 28 goals in 32 League games by this point in his career Zlatan was getting bored of the city and was looking for a new challenge and there was a club over in France that hadn't won the league in 18 years but was looking like it had the potential to take over football so with the help of mina riola Zlatan made the move to PSG for2 million euros where he was about to Kickstart a new Dynasty on the 17th of July 2012 rman announced the signing of their new Star Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic now

Zlatan is 30 years old and for most football players that would be the start of their decline but not Zlatan because this man aged like fine wine as he was about to enter what were arguably his prime years and he still had a decade of topf flight football left in him zanton joined a very exciting PSG team as they had just been taken over by new owners who were throwing money around and this spending worked as in zlatan's first season in France they lifted the league title for the first time in 19 years in this

first season Zlatan chipped in with a total of 40 goal contributions and won himself the league on Player of the Year award oh and of course Zlatan got into some let's say arguments in only his first season he kicked the son Tien goalkeeper in the chest he stamped on Len's head and then also got a ban for stamping on the Valencia Winger Andres guado now roll on the 2013 14 season enlan just got even better scoring 41 goals in 46 games and just like the season before he won the league Player of the Year award

and top scorer award but this year he also picked up the league own goal of the season for this Wonder strike he was both a great goal scorer and a scorer of great goals now his third season in Paris was a bit slower compared to the previous two on an individual level but he still picked up a third league in a row and a domestic quadruple but maybe he was just fueling up for the 15 16 Season where he really turned up at 33 years old zanton scored 51 goals in 50 games as he broke

pretty much every record PSG had to be broken he became their all-time top goal scorer he won his fourth league in a row and he cemented himself as a legend in the French Capital but despite putting up these insane stats throughout his entire career some people still doubted him he can do it in the French league but can he do it in the best league in the world zlata knew that to cement his legacy in football he had to prove himself in the Premier League and at this same time his old friend Jose Mourinho took

charge of Manchester United and was ready for a reunion with the Swedish Striker as they were ready to prove all the haters wrong zanton signed for Man United as a free agent after being convinced by Jose Mourinho to join upon his arrival in England the English media had it in for him doubting that he could achieve anything of significance at his old age of 34 but this was just fuel for Zlatan he loved to hear the doubters and loved to prove them wrong he got off to a great start by scoring a goal on his

debut and continuing this fine form throughout the season in his first season at United he won three trophies including a Europa League making it his first European trophy ever he also finished The League season with 17 goals proving he could do it in England land but things really took a turn for the worse in April of that same season after jumping for the ball he landed badly and suffered one of the worst injuries a football player can face he tore a ligament in his knee an injury like this at 35 years old should be career

ending Zlatan probably should have retired on the spot after such a great career but he was determined to recover and come back next season during the recovery process the doctors involved said they had never seen a knee recover as well as the zaton they never found one as strong as him which was just music to his ears going into his second season at United they signed a new striker in romelo Lukaku as lton was now deemed old and unreliable after returning from injury he struggled to cement a place in the team and it really was

looking like he was done at United so in March of the 1718 season both United and zanton mutually agreed to terminate his contract and zon was left looking for a new challenge in his career 36 years old Zlatan decided to make the move over to the MLS to join LA Galaxy now usually when an older player moves to America it's to ease into retirement in a slower league and they never return to topf flight football but zlan was different because after his time in the MLS he was going to return to Europe for one last

hurrah to cement his legacy but we'll get to that soon the days L unsigned he paid for a full page advertisement in the LA Times where he simply dear Los Angeles you're welcome but this wasn't the only ego display from Zlatan because also upon his arrival NBA star LeBron James sent him a jersey as a welcome gift and zlot un signed the jersey and sent it back to LeBron that's one way to make friends I guess zoton's first game in the MLS came in a derby against lafc where he found himself as a substitute but

when he came on he really put on a show with an insane volley to level the game and then a last minute header to sec secure his team the victory after the match he had this to say the fans were demanding something and and I gave them Zlatan zlantan went on to spend two seasons in the MLS where he was clearly A Cut Above the Rest of the league he scored 56 goals in 52 games was an MLs Allstar in his two seasons and was named the captain in his second season he also scored his

500th career goal against Toronto and said that he was happy for Toronto as they would be remembered as his 500th victim now during his time in America there was often the debate between who was the best player in the MLS as he was being compared to Carlos vea but zaton wasn't having any of this zoton would come back at these remarks saying this there's another player in Los Angeles Carlos fella In This Moment he's got 19 goals 12 assists and his team is leading Major League Soccer do you still consider yourself the best player in

Major League Soccer by far because if he's in in his prime how old is he Carlos V is 29 29 he's playing in MLS and he's in his prime when I was 29 where was I yeah you were in Europe big difference yes yeah exactly but now after two years of domination Zlatan was done with the MLS but not done with football because he still had some unfinished business left over in Italy as since he left AC Milan all those years ago they declined from a Powerhouse to a club that was struggling to even get

Champions League football so zlat knew what he had to do it was time for the lion to return Ibrahimovic resigned for AC Milan halfway through the 1920 season at 38 years of age with one mission to take Milan back to the top of Italian football in his first season back he performed well scoring 11 goals in 20 games but more than just the goals he was instilling belief in his teammates that they could go on and do something special in January of 2020 he scored a goal against kagari which was a significant Milestone as he

became the first player to ever score in four separate decades being the 1990s 2010s and now the 2020s going into the 2021 season zanton and Milan had a phenomenal start as they found themselves top of the league in January now remember at this point Juventus had won nine titles in a row meaning that for anyone else to win it would be an insane feat but the issue came when Zlatan picked up a season ending injury which caused Milan to fall away and instead inter picked up this title which still put an end to the UVA

Domination by the end of this second season zlatan's contract expired but he refused to give up just yet so he signed an extension with the hope of bringing the Syria OB back to AC Milan going into this next season Zlatan was 40 years old and at an age where he really shouldn't have been playing Top Flight football he was defying all the odds but that's what he does his performances did slow down slightly this season in terms of output but he still chipped in with eight leag goals and three assists but the power of zatan

was more than just goals he instilled belief in his team and was a crucial part of this season come the end of the season Milan were still looking like they were going to lift the title till April when zaton faced a heartbreak on the 30th of April 2022 it was announced that Mino riola passed away this was devastating for Zlatan as he was so much more than just an agent he was like family the month later Zlatan and AC Milan managed to lift the CIA a title for the first time in 11 years which Zlatan

dedicated to Rola what's crazy is that after this season Zlatan came out and said that he played the last 6 months with an ACL tear meaning after every single game he had to drain fluid from his knee and he always played with extreme pain but this was worth it as he finally got Milan back to the top of Italian football Z done signed a one-year contract extension which would see him playing into the 2223 season but due to these injuries he didn't really play much and he was finally ready to hang up his boots as

at 41 years old his body was starting to give way so at the end of the season he finally announced his retirement from football 570 career goals 34 trophies won and now looking back on his childhood Zlatan always has a full fridge of food what a player now if you enjoyed this video I've got another another one I'm sure you'll like on screen now trust me you should watch it