Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s competitive desire can be seen throughout his career at the elite level of European football, and it could be argued that to get to the very top, you have to put some noses out of joint along the way.
One of his former team-mates at LA Galaxy, Michael Ciani, has lifted the lid on just how driven the Swede was to win, and how he hated three or four of his ex-team-mates during his career.
Whilst at Paris Saint-Germain, it was often speculated that he didn’t get on with Uruguayan marksman, Edinson Cavani, who has gone on to break the Swede’s record of most goals scored for the French club, and Ciani confirmed it.
“If you are close with Cavani, Ibra doesn’t like it. Either you are with Ibra or against him,” Ciani told RMC Sport and cited by the Daily Star.
“He told me that everything was fine with Laurent Blanc at PSG. The only person he did not get along with was Cavani. He told me that he had only hated three or four teammates in his entire career… and one of them was Cavani.”
Given that Ibrahimovic is never backwards in coming forwards to tell everyone how good he is, the news that he didn’t get on with some ex-colleagues shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise.
With the possible exception of his time at Barcelona, success has followed the striker wherever he has been, and, arguably, he has improved whatever club he has been at.
The fact that he’s ruffled a few feathers shouldn’t be held against him.