La Gazzetta Love Them Some Zlatan

By: Martha | December 4th, 2007

Clapping for chum. There’s a completely fantastic article in today’s La Gazzetta in which the author (Mirko Graziano, if you want to write him a thank you note. And no, it’s not a pseudonym for me. Or RomaChris, at least as far as I know.) practically explodes with love for The Great Zlatan. There’s no holding back anymore, apparently — after the Swede’s performance against Fiorentina on Sunday, Mirko feels free to call him “perhaps the strongest player of the world.” Word, Mirko.

The love starts with Zlatan’s no-look pass to Julio Cruz for Inter’s second goal (”Magic Johnson style”), continues through his new-found leadership skills (”A true leader: with the feet, with the heart and in the attitudes.”), and ends with his impressive recent maturation, something Gaziano (possibly unwisely) lays at the feet of Roberto Mancini. Hmm. Well, whether that bit is true or not, Graziano semi-convincingly credits the various phases of Zlatan’s development to the wildly different coaches and teams for whom he’s played: The basic love and understand for football came from Ajax, discipline was born at Juve, while Fabio Capello was trying to crush his spirit, and now, at Inter, he’s been given the freedom and responsibility to do what he wants, and it’s all come together. Sigh. Isn’t it great?

Whatever the reason for Ibrahimagic’s explosion this year, it’s fun as hell to watch and, not just if you’re an Inter fan. Don’t even pretend you don’t love it.

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Category: Inter, Rumors & News, Serie A

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Martha

Oops -- thanks for pointing that out, Marco, I seem to have cut it and not bothered to paste!
Marco

Thanks Martha, I had actually missed that one. But you didn't give a link to the article (tsk tsk), here it is.
Gabriella

I think the rise of Zlatan is due to him being settled down... that can work wonders for players
Martha

Excellent, Angharad, I think that leaves only two more people to bring around.

Rob, thank you for your confession. You're a good person.

Chris, I think the fact that you're a)counting Zlatan pictures, and b)writing about him on the front page says more about you than it does me.

And Pit is only comparable to Dacourt if a)he's one of about three healthy mids, and b)is starting because of it.
chris

That's 3 pictures of Zlatan in two days in that shirt and here and the homepage.

1. Is that a world record? I suspect it is.
2. Has your content gone above the 50% Inter mark? After having an injury to Olivier #$%^in Dacourt as the top story in the wrap up (comparison purposes, that'd be like me getting pissed about an injury to Adrian Pit). I also suspect this one.
3. Do you need to see a professional about this?
Rob

Even as a Roma fan i love watching him, he's been incredible this season. *sigh*
Angharad

*sigh* You have won, Martha. I have given up on pretending I don't love it.
Martha

My feeling exactly, Corey! The world needs more of them. (Zlatans and explosions of love for him.)
Corey

A gooey explosion of Zlatan loving? Great.