Soccer / history

He is the often enigmatic Swedish star, towering at an imposing 6ft 5in in height and still playing regular top flight football at an amazing age of 39. He is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, popularly called "The Lion" as he christens himself. He stars for the mighty AC Milan of Italy as a striker by trade. It all happened on Saturday when AC Milan locked horns with Venezia. It was Zlatan who scored the first goal,tucking in a Rafael Leao cross from close range, in a 3 nil triumph. This means that Milan stays up close to city rivals Inter,being just one point and position behind first placed Inter in the Serie A title race. Yet our focus here is that, that goal which occurred in the second minute,has become momentous as it makes it the 80th different club Ibra has scored against in Europe's five top leagues(Premier League, Serie A,Bundesliga, LaLiga and Ligue 1). Amazing! This is an European 21st Century record howbeit he joins the usual suspect another legend in Cristiano Ronaldo in this unique goal haul of the 21st Century. Ronaldo scored his 80th in December 2021 in United's 3-1 defeat of Burnley and was the previous record holder. You usually expect Ronaldo's challenger to be a certain footballing wonder in Lionel Messi or vice versa but Zlatan had other ideas and he has mounted the record making podium with Ronaldo and with his contract, due to expire this summer,set to be extending to 2023 you can be sure Zlatan will want to surpass Ronaldo. This is a player who turns 40 in October,by the way he is my age mate and I'm wondering how I got here,where my belly fat stares at me. This man is still so prolific in front of goal at his age. On record is that he has scored 8 goals in 17 games for Milian thus far this season– meaning in this his second stint with Milan(which began Jan 2020) he has scored 36 times in 64 appearances. This is an enviable record, even for his age! The big man has thus enjoyed a glittering career since his arrival in Ajax from Malmo of Sweden at just 19 years age. He has gone through 17 European campaigns in the past 20 years and has reached double figures in goals in each of these campaigns. He has scored in every calendar year since 1999, when he made his debut back home in Malmo of Sweden. Take a look at the mouthwatering list of clubs he has played for: Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, LA Galaxy,Manchester United. That first season in the MLS,leaving United for LA Galaxy, people felt his was done with his career,after only just coming back from a major injury set-back in England, but what do you know,he scored 53 goals in 58 games in two seasons there. From there he came to AC Milan, where he is now, for a second stint. You might be itching to know his total career goals haul,I will supply it to you at no cost[though if you want to pay,I have an account number😁]— it's 510 goals in 852 matches. Super! But it is not only his goalscoring gusto that shines through, his trophy haul is also quite weighty. Ibra has won a mind-blowing 13 league titles in four(yes four) different nations. Today however we honour this feat of scoring against 80 different sides in Europe since year 2000. I think he deserves a lot of applause. Cheers