Ibra-himo-who? Two

11 March 09 by Bill

Manchester United progressed to the quarter finals of the Champions League after beating Inter Milan 2-0 on Wednesday night at Old Trafford (2-0 on aggregate).

Inter Milan were much improved since the first leg but were undone by goals early in each half. Nemanja Vidic easily shrugged off Patrick Viera following a Ryan Giggs corner and headed home to give the Champions an early lead.

Cristiano Ronaldo headed the second four minutes after the restart following some clever hold up play by Rooney on the left before delivering an inviting cross which the winger duly accepted.

This was no vintage performance from United and the difference between the two sides ultimately came down to the taking of chances. Inter had their fair share but unfortunately for them, too many fell to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Jose Mourinho said: “We just lacked that little bit of luck you need to win, that little thing that makes difference between winning and not winning.” No Jose, you lacked that little bit of quality.

Following United’s domination of Inter at the San Siro a fortnight ago, I published an article in which I was somewhat critical of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

My main concern with him is that despite all the hype, he’s really not achieved anything. Sure he has a nice touch and at times can be brilliant; but doing something great occasionally doesn’t make you a great player.

If the guy was 19 I’d call him great; he’d have quality and potential but at 27? By now he should be at the peak of his career. He is, and he’s an okay player. That’s it.

Following my first article, I received some feedback from a chap who shall be known only as Dave. Dave said:

“People who know football know how good he [Ibrahimovic] is. The only ones who don’t rate him are EPL fans and pundits. We’ll see what happens in Manchester.”

I think Italian football fans should take more notice of what Premier League fans and pundits say because let’s face it, we are talking about the best league in the world. Three of the Champions League semi-finalists have been English clubs in the last two seasons and all four are through to the last eight this year.

We Premier League followers KNOW what good football is, we see it week in week out.

The problem for Inter Milan fans is they watch their fearsome attackers tear apart snail paced Italian opposition week in week out. I mean even David Beckham is tearing up Serie A at the moment; something he could never do again in the Premier League.

Ibrahimovic may well have scored 16,098 goals for Inter but he’s never scored in the final stages of the Champions League nor has he ever scored against English opposition. He’s been involved in 10 games against Premier League opposition and he’s never even experienced winning.

There has been way too much hype surrounding Zlatan Ibrahimovic in recent times with the bulk of it coming from himself and his manager. I think the world has seen enough to make up its own mind, it’s time to jump off the band wagon.