Dubai: One of the greatest ironies of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ career is that he left Inter Milan for Barcelona in 2009 in search of Champions League glory, only to lose in the semi-final to the eventual winners Inter in 2010.
Pep Guardiola’s Barca had won the European Cup the year before, and they were considered clear favourites to reclaim the honour before that 3-2 aggregate defeat to Jose Mourinho’s side.
The Catalans eventually did win the trophy back in 2011, but that was only after Ibrahimovic had been shipped off on loan to AC Milan after a bust up with Guardiola.
To this day the Inter defeat is the closest the Swedish striker has come to an elusive Champions League title, despite playing for some of Europe’s top sides, such as, Ajax, Juventus and now Paris Saint Germain, as well as the three already mentioned.
It’s easy to say now that if he’d only toed the party line he would have already collected a winner’s medal, but as the son of Yugoslav immigrants growing up in poverty on a rough housing estate in Malmo, Zlatan’s rage, although self-destructive, has also been the fuel necessary to get him this far.
He is the first player to score for six different sides in Champions League history - and one of only 32 players to have made more than 100 appearances in the competition.
But while he’s one of the world’s most expensive players - in combined transfer fees clubs have spent £126.7 million, Dh670 million - and has played for all the right clubs, under all the right coaches, he’s just never been in the right place at the right time.
On top of that there’s also the argument that he’s failed to deliver on the biggest stage. A damning statistic from that semi-final first leg away to Inter, for instance, showed that he ran just 400-metres more than Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Now 34-years-old and with just five months left on his contract at PSG, time is running out.
If no offer from another top European club is forthcoming and rumours linking him to America’s Major League Soccer are true, then this Tuesday’s Round of 16 first leg at home to Chelsea could be his last stab at progressing to win Europe’s ultimate prize.
Strengthening his cause though is the fact that PSG are unbeaten in a record 34 French Ligue 1 matches, and have lost only to Real Madrid [1-0 away] in 36 games across all competitions this season.
“I still have the possibility to win it,” said Ibrahimovic. “I have a great team and the dream is to win the Champions League for this club and that is one of my objectives.
“We want to win everything we can. This year can be a great year. Last year was historic,” he added of PSG’s unprecedented domestic quadruple. “I said when I first came here, I want to make history and today I can say I made history. But it’s not finished yet.
“I think we have done magical things. We have had a fantastic first half of the season, and now the fun part begins; now we need to be more than magic, so hopefully we will continue like we’ve been doing before.
“We are going for all the records we can take because we make the impossible possible.”
In October the Swede surpassed Pauleta as PSG’s all-time top scorer, and he’s now on 131 goals in 159 appearances since signing from AC Milan for €20 million in July 2012 - 27 of those goals have come in 31 appearances this season alone.
“I’m doing the best season ever,” he added. “I hear people talking, giving their opinion. But I make them eat their words because all my statistics are better than before, and I just need to keep on going.”
PSG share a chequered recent history with Chelsea having beaten them 3-3 on away goals in last season’s Round of 16, after Chelsea had beaten them 3-3 on away goals in the quarter-finals the season before.
Ibrahimovic failed to score in all four of these fixtures, missing the second leg of their first meeting in 2013/14 through injury, and getting sent off in the second leg of their second encounter last season for a lunge on Oscar.
Ironically, the Swede will again be marked by John Terry, another player who is out of contract at the end of the season, who like Ibrahimovic has unfinished business in this competition. Terry missed a penalty in Chelsea’s 2008 final defeat to Man United and missed their 2012 victory over Bayern through suspension.
“We have respect for Chelsea and do not underestimate them even if they are not doing well in the English Premier League, because we know they have great players who have Champions League experience.
“I think in this game you don’t have any favourites because we played two times before, one time Chelsea progressed, one time PSG progressed, so this is the third time.
“I see both teams are equal and it will be two fantastic games, especially for the supporters. The one who does the less mistakes will pass. That’s the way it is in the Champions League. But we are better than last year and hopefully we can show it in these two games.”
Of his own search for a Champions League win, he said: “If it doesn’t happen my career is packed anyway, the museum is huge and I’m happy for that,” he added of his 27 titles for seven clubs in 17 years. “Let’s see what happens this year but if not, I will still be happy with what I’ve achieved.”
And about his future, he added: “Normally I had a contract over many years and then changed club, but this is something different for me, where my contract ends and I am free to do what I want.
“For the moment I am enjoying my football, I feel very good mentally and physically and I enjoy it every time I come out onto the pitch. I try to do what I can do and I feel I’m doing it more than good.
“It looks like there’s nothing [offer wise] to go for, but it’s also nothing I’m focusing on, I’m trying to focus on my thing here with PSG, to do my best and deliver like I’ve done before. In my thoughts now I don’t have any destination.
“Before I came to PSG I knew it would be a big challenge for me because the club wanted to do something great to build a club and take them to the top and I was here from the start of that project.
“I’m very happy to be one of the first ones here to bring it to the top and I knew I would make history, that is what I’m doing and I’m still doing it, but when I change club or stop football I will sit down, lean back and say ‘I was part of that project’ so for that I’m very happy.”
