Best player in the world? Zlatan Ibrahimovic told ‘he is not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo’ despite enigmatic former Inter, AC Milan & Man Utd striker believing he is the GOAT

Confidence was never a quality that the enigmatic Swedish striker lacked throughout his playing days, with a larger-than-life character happy to talk up his qualities to anybody that would listen. Ibrahimovic did have plenty to support his argument, with an enviable haul of major honours collected.

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The former Ajax, Juventus, Inter, AC Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United forward won trophies in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France and England, while also spending time in MLS with the LA Galaxy – a division that Argentine superstar Messi now graces at Inter Miami.
• Getty/GOAL

  WHAT MATERAZZI SAID

  Ibrahimovic always billed himself as a sporting “god”, but ex-Inter team-mate Materazzi has told SempreInter of why the legendary figure is not the greatest of all-time: “He thinks he was the best player in the world. This is not my opinion. But he is a big, big player for me. He’s scored a lot of goals historically.

  “He’s won many titles, maybe not the most important titles, because he lost Champions Leagues, World Cups, European Championships, but won maybe 20 Scudetti. He is a big player; he is a crack. But he is not Messi, he is not Ronaldo, he is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But in the future everybody will know about him.”

  WHAT NEXT?

  Ibrahimovic remains in the public eye for now, as he fills an advisory post at AC Milan. He played into his 40s, as Ronaldo is preparing to do, and will be remembered as one of the best to to ever play the game – even if he does not occupy the very top bracket of talent on that list.