Do y'all want to hear my Zlatan story?
In July 2012 DC United hosted PSG - who had just signed Ibra weeks before - for a preseason friendly at RFK Stadium. Even 6 yrs later it still seems a bit surreal that PSG would set foot in that place, but they did. Of course it drew a voracious, multinational media pack...
Every Zlatan availability turned into a de facto rugby scrum, w/ at least 10 languages represented. And he seemed to speak about half of them himself, just holding court, swag on max. At one point a guy, speaking in English, asked Ibra to say some kind of soundbyte in Swedish...
Ibra stops, gives this guy the sideeye and says "but you don't ask me in Swedish. You don't speak it?"
The guy stammers a sec and says, "it's for [blah blah] Sweden radio [something or other]." ...
The guy stammers a sec and says, "it's for [blah blah] Sweden radio [something or other]." ...
Ibra smirks and says, "so you will sell it for money."
Awkward silence.
Ibra smiles again, says "I don't give it to you."
Man I almost screamed
Awkward silence.
Ibra smiles again, says "I don't give it to you."
Man I almost screamed
I don't think I've ever experienced in person an athlete with personality and intelligence like Ibra. The swagger and streetsmarts radiated off him - it was so obvious that he knew his own value and was processing everything and everyone around him at an extremely high level.
