Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ajax v NAC Breda, 2004)
Friday 28 October 2011 16:32
Every month in FourFourTwo, a player remembers and talks us through his best ever goal. Here's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, thinking fondly about his legendary jinking run for Ajax in 2004...
“In 2004, I was at Ajax and Juve were about to sign me. [Rafael] Van der Vaart wasn’t speaking to me because he said I injured him in training on purpose. I didn’t.
When I entered the pitch for the game against 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.”
Interview: Andy Mitten. Illustration: German Aczel. From the November 2010 issue of FourFourTwo. Subscribe!
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