Stockholm: After Sweden’s ‘Miracle of Milan’ booked them a berth at the 2018 World Cup finals and sent Italy crashing out, could Zlatan Ibrahimovic be set for a return from international retirement?
In the minutes after the Swedes hung on for a goalless draw Monday that secured one of the big World Cup upsets, Ibrahimovic wrote “We are Zweden” on Instagram next to a photo of the delighted team, deliberately adding the ‘Z’ of his name to his country’s.
The Manchester United striker, who retired from the national team in 2016, was among the crowd in the San Siro to cheer on his former Sweden teammates.
In the post-match press conference, coach Janne Andersson was irritated by reporters’ focus on whether their veteran former star could again pull on the yellow jersey at the finals in Russia next year.
“This is incredible. This player stopped playing with Sweden a year and a half ago and we are still talking about him,” Andersson told reporters. “We need to talk about the great players we have in this team.”
Meanwhile players and even the Prime Minister of the country could not hide their euphoria after Sweden’s qualification.
“I have never experienced anything like this,” said goalkeeper Robin Olsen after returning to the Swdish capital Wednesday morning.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was overjoyed at the against-the-odds victory. “Jaaaaaaaa! It will be the World Cup for Sweden in 2018 after two strong matches against Italy… Congratulations to the national team!” he wrote on Facebook.
Newspaper ‘Dagens Nyheter’ could hardly believe the result either, calling it ‘surreal’.
