Ibrahimovic becomes Barcelona's top scorer and assist king in 100 days, his magic at Inter Milan now doubled. Crown Network account opening

by khfb54p8 on 2009-12-06 10:47:13

Sina Sports News - Ibrahimovic has been with Barcelona for 100 days now, and when Guardiola reviewed his performance over these past 100-plus days, he said: "He has shown a very high level. There is too much to reminisce about in the last four games; he has been decisive for the game." In the match against Mallorca, Guardiola made large-scale rotations, but the only one who was not rotated was Ibrahimovic. El País commented with a slight tinge of mockery: Barça's assistant coach Vilanova wanted to use a grinding tactical approach, but it was completely unnecessary because Ibrahimovic is a very versatile player who can adapt to any situation. Ibrahimovic indeed did this; without Messi around him, without Xavi and Iniesta behind him, Ibrahimovic took on the responsibility of initiating the attack and solved the battle with his genius.

In the 10th minute, Ibrahimovic contested a long pass from the backfield near the penalty area, then cleverly sent a backheel through ball to assist Pedro in scoring with a one-on-one opportunity. The Daily Sports evaluated this goal by saying that although this pass did not benefit Henry, Ibrahimovic's genius must be praised. Ibrahimovic gave Pedro a pass as if it were from a football video game, and the latter opened the scoring gate within 10 minutes. Two minutes later, Ibrahimovic again used a backheel pass from the left side of the penalty area to give Henry a very comfortable shooting chance.

While the Spanish media praised Guardiola for using the "Plan B" to win the game, they also praised Ibrahimovic's brilliance, even if such brilliance could only be seen two or three times in a game. Although Barça played with their "Plan B," the system remained unchanged, Ibrahimovic's star quality remained unchanged, Pedro's angelic flair remained unchanged, and the result of victory would not change either. After Messi and others came on, Barça expanding their lead was a natural progression. Messi broke through and distributed the ball, Ibrahimovic broke through again and was tripped inside the penalty area, and Messi scored from the penalty spot. Everything seemed so natural, and the two kings of Barça combined to deliver a simple yet technically proficient goal.

Ibrahimovic is a superstar-level player, and when the team attacks around him, he always provides teammates with sufficient strong support. In the previous match against Kazan, Ibrahimovic was the attacking pivot in the first half. Barça repeatedly sent the ball to his chest or feet, and his ball control, shielding, and subsequent passes became Barça's attacking routine. A few days later, Ibrahimovic did not rest like other teammates but continued to play. Although Guardiola said that "Ibrahimovic was not as active as he was against Kazan," the level he demonstrated was quite comparable.

Ibrahimovic's greatest role is his decisiveness in winning matches. When he was at Inter Milan, Ibrahimovic always used his goals to help the team win, and 60% of the team's attacks required his participation. Last season, he scored 25 goals and provided 7 assists in Serie A. Now at Barça, Ibrahimovic's importance is gradually increasing, and his characteristic of making teammates more comfortable is increasingly being maximized. Ibrahimovic is Barça's top scorer in the league with 7 goals, and his league assists have risen to 4, tying with Messi and Xavi. Moreover, Ibrahimovic always brings visually pleasing assists, so teammates increasingly like passing the ball to his feet. This season, Ibrahimovic's goal-scoring rate is slightly higher than in his last season at Inter, and his assist rate is more than twice as high. Last season, Ibrahimovic assisted approximately once every five games, but this season, he already had four assists in nine games. If Messi's penalty could count as an assist from Ibrahimovic, there would be even more.

After creating the penalty, Ibrahimovic suffered an injury to his left leg. Post-game tests showed that he would be out for a week, which would not greatly affect Barça, as it would only make him miss the Copa del Rey matches. Ibrahimovic can use this opportunity to rest more and may not even need to participate in Sweden's friendly match. It should be noted that Ibrahimovic is the fifth most-played player on Barça this season, with the top four all being well-known ironmen—Valdés, Keita, Xavi, and Puyol. It can be seen that Ibrahimovic has transformed from a "newcomer" into an indispensable ace player for Barça, which is a natural phenomenon after all, considering his transfer fee was over 40 million euros more than Eto'o's. (Irekson)