Janne Andersson called up Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the Swedish national team, thus ending a five-year absence of the Milan player from his country’s national team. Zlatan himself was in charge of announcing his goodbye after Euro 2016.
However, his return to European football after a stint in the Los Angeles Galaxy revived his desire to wear the Swedish jersey.
There was even talk that he could be called up for the World Cup in Russia, but nevertheless, the coach kept the block that had classified them so brilliantly, leaving Italy out.
Now, almost five years after his last match with the National Team, Ibrahimovic will be able to hear his country’s anthem again in the qualifying matches for the World Cup against Kosovo and Georgia, in the group of Spain, and the friendly against Estonia.
“The return of God”, said Ibrahimovic himself in networks after knowing the news.
Go for the record
In addition to the huge stir caused by Ibra’s return, there is much talk in Sweden about the possibility of him surpassing Thomas Ravelli as the oldest player in the history of the national team. If he plays Georgia in the first of the games, he will achieve that in 39 years, 5 months and 23 days.
To date, Ibra has played 116 games and scored 62 goals for the Swedish national team. It is the seventh with the most games and the first with the most goals. What no one could think, perhaps neither he, is that almost 40 years old would have the opportunity to increase those figures even more.
It must also be remembered that Sweden is Spain’s rival both in the final phase of the Eurocup and in the preliminary phase of the World Cup that begins these days.