There's barely a World Cup without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, or at least that's what the big man would have you believe. Despite his own country being moments away from a result against Germany at the weekend he's not impressed.
November 2013 Sweden lost to Portugal in the World Cup qualifier play-off and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's last chance of making it to the biggest stage, in Brazil, was gone.
A humble man who plays down his own importance to football the Swede responded to the result by saying, "It was probably [my] last attempt to reach the World Cup with the national team for me. One thing is for sure, a World Cup without me is nothing to watch. Congratulations to Portugal, but both teams deserved to get to the World Cup."
Whilst Zlatan had been one of the best strikers on the planet for around a decade and is always entertaining it was rather arrogant of him to think the World Cup would be 'nothing to watch' and in fact Brazil gave us a Group Stage to really remember.
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Four years on and the Scandinavians did qualify, after beating Italy in the play-offs, but by then Ibra was retired from international football.
However if you were expecting him to be quiet then you clearly don't know Ibra. Speaking to ESPN the LA Galaxy forward revealed he hasn't been impressed with Sweden, saying:
"In the beginning, the first games was different because I felt I can do it much better than them, obviously. And still I feel that.
"But there is a time when you say let them do it and let them enjoy because where I came from, I was not welcome."
Zlats claims he was 'not welcome' because just a few months before Janne Andersson was due to name his squad for the tournament the 36 year old started hinting that he'd come out of international retirement to play in Russia.
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That didn't happen with the manager sticking to those players who had helped them qualify, and with good reason despite the former PSG forward's obvious brilliance.
Sweden opened their World Cup campaign with a win over South Korea and then took Germany to the limit as the world champions required a late Toni Kroos free kick to win the game.
The national side play Mexico in their last game and they must better Germany's result to go through.
If they manage it then Zlatan will be eating his words.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, World Cup news, World Cup, Sweden