Ibra learns how to team play
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish AC Milan’s striker, has said that he is realizing the importance of teamwork. Ibrahimovic said that he used to be a selfish player, but he is adopting the philosophy of team play. These comments were made when the striker
assisted his partner at AC Milan, Alexandre Pato, in both his goals on the weekend.
Teamwork is extremely important for the success of any team. Every player relies on his teammates for helping him out. This is why football is a team game, not an individual sport. Without proper understanding between the players, even a big team is as ineffective
as a third division team.
The importance of teamwork can be realized from the fact that big teams do not always comprise of better individual players. On the contrary, these teams have players that can play better as a team. Therefore, during some exhibition match, for charity or
publicity, the best of Europe is not good enough to beat a simple club. European team comprises brilliant individuals, but they have to suffer because of the fact that clubs have a way better teamwork.
There are numerous examples that can be given from recent football history. When Florentino Perez returned to presidency in Real Madrid, he invested a lot of money to buy extra-ordinary players from all over Europe. However, despite of having three former
‘FIFA World Player of the Year’ award winners in the team, Madrid failed to beat Barcelona in La Liga. Even in Champions league, Madrid lost again to Lyon, which was never a better team on papers.
Barcelona, on the other hand, is built solely around teamwork. Although, there are many big players in Barcelona, but all these players owe their greatness to their club. Their current team is built mostly from Barcelona’s youth club, which means that their
players get more playing time together than other players in different clubs. Therefore, the teamwork and understanding between Barcelona players is far superior to other teams of Europe. This strategy has born its fruits in shape of numerous victories in
recent years. Even the Spanish side won two major tournaments because they had most of the players from Barcelona.
This is the main reason of Barcelona’s dominance in last two years. However, Real Madrid took their time and built the teamwork in their players. This season’s Madrid is far better team than the last year. The only reason is that the players have developed
better understanding among themselves, which has made them a solid unit.
Same is the case with Manchester City, who has seen a lot of investment in recent years as well. However, many big players were bought, but they could not bring success to the club. Despite of spending the most in English Premier League, Manchester City
barely made into the Europa Cup. However, after one season, the story is altogether different. Players have developed their understanding and they look like a better unit now. This is obvious from the fact that Manchester City is sitting in the front line,
in English Premier League.
Nevertheless, there are still some players who have a tendency towards selfishness. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is definitely that kind of player who does not like to play a team game. Although, he has been to big clubs, like Inter Milan, Barcelona and Juventus,
before joining AC Milan, but he has not been able to develop the habit of teamwork. This tendency seems to be problematic especially when the Swede is playing under pressure. However, this has given him nothing, costing his team numerous problems.
When Ibrahimovic was playing for Barcelona, he was criticised for his selfish behaviour. Once, the sporting director of Barcelona, Andoni Zubizarreta, lashed out at Ibrahimovic for his selfish approach towards football. Zubizarreta said that in football
it is important how you play not only when you have the ball, but also when you do not have the ball. The director said that Ibra is not good enough when he needs to support his teammates.
A player is never too old to learn, so it is a great thing that Ibrahimovic is still improving. It is a good thing for his current team that he learns to play for the team. There are a lot of brilliant individuals around him, while Ibrahimovic needs to learn
to rely on those individuals as well.
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