Meanwhile in Sweden @sampdoria_en’s @EkdalAlbin launched a scathing attack on @Ibra_official on a national radio show where famous people every summer are given 89 mins to tell their story.
Among the more notable things he says “Many players couldn’t handle his gesturing”
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“....and sharp comments which shot holes in the confidence of some players. I’ve seen that many times. And it seldom benefits the team.”
He adds: “Probably many people couldn’t handle his massive winning mentality & temperament which has, despite everything taken him to —>

...the best clubs in the world & made him Sweden’s best player of all time.”

#Ekdal points out: “if we were a team made up of 1 star with a few teammates in 2016, we travelled to the World Cup in 2016 as a tight group 2 years later to Russia.
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The entire team consisted of players making their World Cup debut.”

“Zlatan was the big star. He was the one who was supposed to do it, lead Sweden through thick & thin. National team manager Erik Hamrèn had given him the baton & made him the captain, and....
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“....the rest of us were supposed to put our trust in him.
Our team consisted of one superstar and 10 decent players around him helping him to dominate. That idea didn’t pan out.”

Timing of this is remarkable as Ekdal’s comments come at a time when:

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1) #Milan’s players, directors & coaches have all praised Zlatan for precisely lifting the team, leading by example & a big reason behind the transformation Milan have undergone since Christmas, as they incredibly enough have a shot at qualifying for Europe.

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2) #Milan will play #Sampdoria in the next round of the #SerieA

Another very interesting aspect is that during that World Cup in Russia, Swedish National team player Jimmy Durmaz suffered racial abuse after losing to Germany with Zlatan criticizing the selection of —>

players for the national team when Janne Andersson took over from Erik Hamrèn, suggestiong the latter might have racial bias in selecting only ethnic Swedes, but “shitting his pants after being criticized for it” & only then selecting players from a more diverse background.
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This prompted former professor of social work at Uppsala as well as Mitt university, Masoud Kamali, ti attack Ekdal, the Swedish Media establishment & especially national broadcaster Swedish Radio of inherent racial bias stating among other things —>

“Zlatan has never been regarded as Swedish & he never will. Sure, reporters & journalists will refer to him as ‘Swedish’ when he scores & performs well & shows he’s one of the best players of all time. The same people who bent forwards over his greatness are now...
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“....were hunting & still are hunting him to find something to find faults or anything that could hurt his reputation.”

Kamali quotes @JohanFlinck of @Aftonbladet in particular who on 8th of March 2011 wrote: “one example of the witch-hunt on Zlatan is when... —>

....listed different factors which made Zlatan inappropriate to play for the Swedish National team. The conclusion of these factors were that ‘Zlatan was un-Swedish & deviated from established Swedish football norms.’ The title of the piece was ‘Zlatan vs the National team’...

Kamali adds “why is it that that you get to read that Argentinian stars like #DiMaria & #Dybala praise #Messi to be one of the best of all time whilst #Zlatan always has to be audited for his ‘shortcomings’ and ‘un-Swedishness’? One has to read that it has nothing to do....
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“....with his background but everything to do with his personality, a pseudo-terminology for what used to be referred to as “race” & “culture.”

Kamali attacks Ekdal: “anyone who’s played football at high level knows that gestures & sharp comments are very common...
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“...in football games at that level & are part of the game. Why is Zlatan being blamed for something that is very common in world football.”

The last word, as always with Zlatan, has not been said yet, #sampdoriamilan will be played at 7.30 pm CET Wednesday 29tb July.

CORRECTION: Zlatan criticized Janne Andersson if racial bias NOT Erik Hamrèn, I mistyped latter when I should have written former.