Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an amazing four goals to beat a new-look England in a new-look Sweden stadium tonight in an international friendly. Every goal from the Paris Saint-Germain striker was a top class finish which ended with a magical 35-yard bicycle kick and the goals were enough to see Sweden thrash England 4-2.
The game was put together to celebrate the opening of the new Sweden national stadium and it was christened in a truely magical way as captain and national-hero, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, managed to bag a hat-trick for the home side. After completing his hat-trick, he then went one better by scoring a bicycle kick from 35-yards out.
For England, it was also a special night as it saw several new faces in the squad and also saw them celebrate a very familiar face too. Steven Gerrard captained the side tonight in what was his 100th appearance for the country. As for debutants, there was: Raheem Sterling, Carl Jenkinson, Steven Caulker, Leon Osman, Ryan Shawcross and Wilfried Zaha. The game also saw the return of Jack Wilshere to international football.
The game started much how it ended and that was with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring. After a low-cross caused havoc in the England box, the loose ball fell to the 31-year old, who was able to toe poke the ball home into the top corner. Debutant, Steven Caulker, may feel like he could have done better, but it was still a top-class finish by the big Swede.
Sweden’s lead only lasted 15 minutes though as Danny Welbeck scored his fifth goal for England after a wonderful ball from Ashley Young. England debutant, Raheem Sterling, managed to pick out Ashley Young down the wing with a lovely cross-field pass. The Manchester United winger then produced a superb cross which left his club team-mate the easy job of tapping the ball home.
Three minutes later it got better for the visitors as Steven Caulker scored his second goal in a week and his first goal for England. After scoring a header against champions, Man City at the weekend, Caulker was picked out superbly by Steven Gerrard and he managed to bundle the ball home to give England the lead. This was enough for the new-look side to lead at half-time.
The second half was met with a masterclass by the Sweden hit-man, Ibrahimovic.
After a pretty commanding second half from England, they were then un-done in the last thirteen minutes because of pure class from the PSG stiker.
His second goal came in the 77th minute, as an over-the-top ball caught out Ryan Shawcross, who was making his debut, and was smashed home on the volley by Ibrahimovic. If people thought that was a good goal, they were in for a treat with the third and the fourth.
After a free-kick was given away in the 84th minute there was only one man that was going to stand over the ball and that was Zlatan. He put the ball down about 30-yards out and then rifled a low shot past England goalkeeper, Joe Hart. The free-kick rounded off a superb hat-trick for the Swedish striker, who netted his 38th international goal. However it was his 39th goal that left people stunned.
In the 90th minute after a simple clearance from a Swedish defender, Joe Hart came rushing out of his goal to head the ball away and to safety, or so it seemed. What happened next though wouldn’t have been imagined by anybody except from the man himself, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
As he backed away to get the ball, he then turned his back to the goal and attempted a 35-yard bicycle kick, which somehow found the back of the net. The connection was absolutely perfect and just looped over Joe Hart and two England defenders and landed into the back of the net, much to the amazement of the fans, the commentators and probably every spectator around the world. It was a goal that will never be forgotten and a goal that you will never be sick of the sight of, even if you are English.
England’s man of the moment, Steven Gerrard, couldn’t deny how great Ibrahimovic was tonight:
“Ibrahimovic’s performance was certainly world-class. Credit to him, he scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live. It was his night.
“From our point of view, there were a lot of young lads making their debuts and they did well. We will take a lot from this game. We collapsed a little bit near the end, but there were plenty of positives.”
England manager, Roy Hodgson, couldn’t take it away from the Swedish striker either:
“No doubt Ibrahimovic’s fourth goal was extraordinary. That put the tin lid on the game. But it was the second and third goals which killed us.
“For 60/70 minutes we played very well and deserved to be leading. I was anxious to look at a few players and the changes probably disrupted us. But there are a lot of positives to take from the game.”
I don’t think anyone imagined the Wednesday night friendly would be as exciting as it was, but if they did tune in and watch, they witnessed one of the best individual performances ever to embrace a football pitch. His name….Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Alex William Batt
