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The veteran leader of the national team reveals a new serious abuse of Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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Photo: PONTUS ORRE
Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In his new book, Olof Lundh describes how Zlatan Ibrahimovic divided and ruled the national team.
Has been beaten by named players.
But for Sportbladet, a longtime national team leader confirms the information in the book and reveals a flagrant new abuse of Ibrahimovic in the national team.
– It was adult harassment at a high level. This is something that he would have basically reported to the police. It was horrible, he anonymously tells Sportbladet.
On Tuesday, Swedish sports sites were dominated by headlines and articles about how Zlatan Ibrahimovic led the team during, above all, Erik Hamrén’s national team captaincy and how he cut and scolded his teammates in front of the entire team.
All told and described in the new book by journalist Olof Lundh “The national team according to Lundh”.
But the two players who would have suffered the worst, Rasmus Elm and Oscar Lewicki, have spoken / announced today and have ensured that Lundh distorted and / or exaggerated the insults: Elm in Expressen and Lewicki in Sportbladet, among others.
Gives Lundh the right
But Sportbladet has spoken to a longtime national team leader who gives Lundh the right on just about everything.
– Olof Lundh does not ride a bike, he says with clear understatement.
On Lewicki’s sawing inside the dressing room in connection with the European Championship premiere in 2016, he says:
– I thought it was too much. I thought it was a shame about Lewicki. Everyone has been talking about Ferguson’s hair dryer at United. This must have been on par and then we have a director of the national team who says “damn, I do not intend to be part of this, and leave the room.”
Is Lundh’s description of Elm’s insult in the Friends Arena opener against England 2012 correct?
– Yes, of course it’s true. That is horrible to say.
“It would amaze Swedish football”
But the leader believes that there are many more and worse things to tell about Zlatan’s passage in the national team.
– I could say things that would surprise Swedish football about how it has behaved. I wondered more than once if it was worth staying.
– It was adult harassment at a high level. This is something you basically have to report to the police. It was horrible.
How did Zlatan behave?
– Yes.
Do you think I should have reported to the police?
– Next door in any case. Don’t you report people for bullying and harassment? If it’s all meetings, ten days in a row every month … isn’t it harassment? Don’t you denounce people for such things?
– Then there is a mentality and slang in football that is tough and tough. I know when I have played. I have no problem getting mad in a locker room, but not the way Zlatan did, and they get a little harsh words. But then you apologize or maybe the next day. This was day after day, for example, “damn how ugly you are” and other reports. It is a form of intimidation.
– But I don’t think Zlatan thought at all that he treats people badly. It is your daily life.
“Will get hell”
But just as Olof Lundh has been forced to rely on anonymous sources when it comes to criticism and accusations against Zlatan in his book, the Sportbladet source demands that he be allowed to remain anonymous to dare to tell it.
– If I pronounce myself by my name, I know that I will get a lot from him (Zlatan). I don’t want to be hanged. I know I will go to hell if I confirm it to be true, as Lundh writes, not only from Zlatan, but also … no, I will stay there.
– He is also supported from above, from higher up in the hierarchy of the national team. There was no help there either. There is a hierarchy in the union that makes people not dare to tell it. If something had been mentioned, it would have meant the end.
So you got fired?
– Yes, or has been relocated. The national coach that we have today is something completely different from the previous one who supported all this.
But do you think it is important that this comes to light?
– Yes, I definitely do. If now in Swedish football we talk about racism and gender equality … why shouldn’t this also come up? Just because a person has gone from having nothing to becoming one of the best soccer players in the world doesn’t mean you have to beat up and treat all the people around you like shit.
Photo: MAGNUS WENNMAN
Fredrik Ljungberg, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olof Mellberg on the national team.
“It would have been an MMA fight”
The anonymous leader also says:
– But this is nothing compared to what happened before, when Ljungberg was still in the national team, he says.
After the 2006 World Cup, it emerged that there had been a locker room fight between Mellberg and Ljungberg over tactics after the goalless debut against Trinidad / Tobago.
Now the Sportbladet source says:
– It was a second after it had been a real MMA fight there.
Between Ljungberg and Zlatan?
– Between Ljungberg and Zlatan … and Mellberg.
Then materials manager Roger Jacobsson and security manager Janne Hammarbäck had to intervene.
Zlatan thought that Ljungberg was a prima donna who had grown too old. But Ljungberg was nothing compared to how Zlatan later behaved.
Did Zlatan’s personality affect the results and performance of the players?
– Yes I think so. If Zlatan is 50 percent better than the second best player, but the other ten lose 10 percent for fear of ending him, we have lost 100 percent there. Look at the results since you resigned, we are better now. But if you asked me who is the greatest Swedish soccer player of all time, I would still say Zlatan.
Sportbladet has applied Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former national team manager Lars Richt for comment.
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