Zlatan Ibrahimović Quotes

You can take the kid away from the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto away from the kid

At Balkan, it was more like, ‘I’ll do your mum up the arse.’ They were mental Yugoslavs who smoked like chimneys and flung their boots about, and I thought, Great, just like at home.

I like being around warriors, and Mihajlović was a bruiser. He always did everything to win.

I learned one important thing over those years. If a guy like me was going to get respect, he had to be five times better than the others. He had to train ten times harder. Otherwise, he didn't have a chance. Especially if he had been a bike thief.

Först gick jag vänster och det gjorde han också. Sen gick jag höger och det gjorde han också. Sen stack jag vänster, och då gick han och köpte korv.

But he didn’t meet any burglars. It was my Xbox, which was still on and had been humming along for three weeks, ever since I’d dashed off to take Juventus’s private plane to Milan.

It's true I don't know much people, but they definitely know who I am.

There was the thought that this would send me into retirement. I sent their entire country into retirement.

Why be a Fiat when you can be a Ferrari.

When the pressure gets unbearable, make it even hotter. You have to show pressure who the boss is.

What was relegation into the second division, when my Dad had just become my biggest fan?

God knows, there are a lot of people who want to take credit for my career. Almost all of it is bullshit—ridiculous attempts by people to ride on my coattails—but there are a few guys who’ve really meant a lot. Roland Andersson is one, and Beenhakker is another. They believed in me when others doubted. I hope I can do similar things myself when I get older. Not just complain about those who are different and say, Look, now he’s dribbling again, Now he’s doing this and that; but think a step ahead.

Se avessi voluto occuparmi di politica, avrei fatto il politico. Invece ho fatto l’atleta. L’atleta unisce, il politico divide.

If I was asked to choose a friend from history to have dinner with, I’d definitely pick Muhammad Ali, because he was the same person, inside and out. He practised what he preached, even if it meant going to prison, in a time of social division – a time of war and racial tensions. When you manage to send out important messages from the platform afforded to a world champion athlete, messages that reach around the world, then you’re something far more than simply an athlete. You’re an icon, a symbol – everything. I would have loved to spend some time chatting with him.

I don’t know them personally, but Maradona struck me as more authentic: he did everything from the heart; he was never afraid to talk, to run risks; he had no filter, he didn’t care about presenting a perfect self-image. When he made a mistake, it was a mistake from the heart. That’s why he touched you more than anyone else. Nowadays 95 per cent of all footballers have a filter around them and seem obsessed with projecting a perfect image. I don’t even know what that’s about. As far as I’m concerned, you can only be yourself, and you’re only perfect if you manage this. Make mistakes, learn from your mistakes. In time you’ll make more mistakes. But you’ll remain yourself. But these players have an entourage of people around them, protecting them, shielding them, to create this perfect image, and so people think: ‘Oh, this is a wonderful person.’ But it’s not necessarily true; they’re just hidden behind a filter. Maradona never gave a thought to his image, but he followed his instincts.

Right from the beginning of my whole story I’d vowed one thing over all others: whatever happens to me – success, wealth, fame – I won’t change. I have to remain myself, because if I change, I’ll disappoint myself. If I came up from the street, I have to remain exactly who I was, the same person, even if I make it to the top.

An athlete unites people, a politician divides them. It’s been my good luck, thanks to sport, to get to know other guys from all over the world. We live in the same dressing room, and we fight as one. If it hadn’t been for football, I would never have met them, and I’d know nothing about their cultures. Are you a Muslim? Are you a Catholic? It doesn’t matter. All that matters is basic respect in the dressing room.

I give 100 per cent from the first session, on the first day of training, because training is when you start winning. There’s not a single match that I don’t consider part of the finals, because every match has a winner and a loser, and I want to be the winner, every time. That’s what I wanted to teach the Americans; that’s how I wanted to help them grow.

Быть не такими, как все - это прекрасно. Продолжайте оставаться самими собой.

What John Carew does with a soccer ball, I can do with an orange.

You think I’m going to be able to sell you with statistics like these?” he said, and I thought, What is this, some kind of attack? I retaliated. “If I’d scored twenty goals, even my mother could have sold me,” and silenced him.

Zlatan, it’s time for you to stop playing with the little kids.” With the little kids? What’s he talking about, I thought, and what on earth have I done to the little kids? “It’s time for you to start playing with the big boys.” I still didn’t get it. “Huh?” “Welcome to the first team, lad,” he continued, and honestly, I cannot describe the feeling, not in a million years.

But Ali I knew. What a legend! He did things his own way, no matter what people said. He didn’t make excuses, and I’ve never forgotten that. That guy was cool. That’s the way I wanted to be, and I imitated some of his things, like I am the greatest. You needed to have a tough attitude in Rosengård, and if you heard anybody talking trash—the worst was to be called a pussy—you couldn’t back down.

Who needs a nickname? To be afraid of me, just watch me play.

A good player can play anywhere.

I think I'm like wine. The older I get, the better I get.

When I got home to Piazza Castello, everything was swimming around me, and I thought, I’ll take a shower, maybe that’ll help. But everything kept spinning. As soon as I moved my head, the whole world moved along with it, and finally I fell asleep in the bathtub. I was woken up by Helena, who just laughed at me. I’ve told her never to breathe a word about it.

Mi hanno chiesto spesso, ovviamente, che cosa avrei fatto se non fossi diventato un calciatore. Non ne ho la più pallida idea. Forse sarei diventato un criminale.