Zlatan Ibrahimovic has come out of retirement and will play for Sweden once again.
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Ibrahimovic, 39, last played for Sweden in the summer of 2016 at the European Championships but he has been named in their national team squad for World Cup qualifiers in March.
Janne Andersen has been keen to get Zlatan back in the squad for some time, even though some suggest his superstar presence could disrupt the group.
The all-time leading goalscorer for Sweden has been rolling back the years for AC Milan this season in Serie A, scoring 16 goals in 21 appearances in all competitions and he has 27 goals in 41 games since returning to Milan last season.
Since he last played for Sweden he has played for Manchester United, LA Galaxy and now AC Milan at club level and he’s been very successful at all three despite suffering a serious knee injury in 2017 while with the Red Devils.
What impact with Zlatan Ibrahimovic have for Sweden?
Whatever you think about Zlatan’s behavior on and off the pitch (his recent comments about LeBron James lost him a lot of admirers), there’s no doubt he’s a difference maker.
Ibrahimovic will provide Sweden with a cutting edge at the European Championships this summer as they qualified by being tough to beat, solid defensively and they have a smattering of skilled attacking midfielders in Emil Fosberg and Dejan Kulusevski who create chances.
What Sweden have been missing is someone to put them away, and that is where Zlatan comes in. He has scored 62 goals in 112 appearances for Sweden across a 15-year career and Marcus Berg is the only current Sweden striker who has scored double figures.
Sweden reached the World Cup quarterfinals in 2018 without Zlatan, where they lost to England, and it was rumored he would be called up for that tournament but they did just fine without him. They also qualified comfortably for the European Championships this summer, but Zlatan will offer something a little different in attack.
Now that he’s back, and assuming his fit, the European Championships (Sweden is in Group E with Spain, Poland and Slovakia) just got even more interesting this summer.
