Ballon d'Or Winner Named Zlatan Ibrahimovic as His Greatest Teammate

· GiveMeSport

One Ballon d'Or winner once named ex-Man Utd star Zlatan Ibrahimovic as his greatest teammate.

Over the years, Zlatan Ibrahimovic played with many legends. After all, he spent time with some of the biggest clubs in the world.

Starting out with Sweden's Malmo, he soon made the move to Dutch giants Ajax, before heading to Italy where he played for both Juventus and Inter Milan. A high-profile move to Barcelona didn't quite pan out, so he went back to Serie A, this time playing for AC Milan.

He then spent four years at Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Manchester United . His career ended after a brief spell in the US at LA Galaxy before returning to AC Milan one final time.

In all his playing years, Ibrahimovic shone alongside some true legends of the modern era. Lionel Messi , Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Thiago Silva, Alessandro Nesta, Patrick Vieira, Fabio Cannavaro, Wesley Sneijder; the list could go on and on.

One of his former teammates, however, also played with a lot of legends but still felt Ibrahimovic was the very finest he shared a pitch with.

Ibrahimovic was a huge fan of the player.

Ibrahimovic was at Juventus from 2004 to 2006. It was here that he got to play alongside Pavel Nedved. They linked up for seven goals in 74 games for the Italian club, with the Czech midfielder in his prime.

Indeed, Nedved won the Ballon d'Or in December 2003, just months before the Swede joined him in Serie A. Although the young striker was still in the infancy of his career, his new teammate was impressed.

In 2016, Nedved was asked to name the greatest player he ever lined up with during his illustrious career , and named Ibrahimovic, explaining:

> "In terms of team-mates, I’ve had a lot and I don’t want to offend anyone. If I had to say one though, I’d say Zlatan Ibrahimovic. > > "He’s a striker who can cut through defences, he has scary power and height, as well as excellent technique."

The Swedish legend scored 26 goals in 98 games for Juve and was even named as club Player of the Year for 2004/05. Ironically, though, Nedved stated that Zlatan was far from the finished article when he first arrived, recalling:

> "That said, when he came to Juventus he couldn’t finish. What you see today is mainly down to the fact Fabio Capello took him for a half hour of shooting practice after every training session."

Ibrahimovic certainly honed that skill as he went on to score 156 times for PSG, 93 goals at AC Milan, 66 at Inter, 53 for LA Galaxy, while also bagging over 20 efforts for both Man Utd and Barcelona.

It's high praise indeed for Nedved, who is a legend in his own right. The Czech icon most notably won the Ballon d'Or in 2004, as well as two Serie A titles with Juventus, having also lifted another league with Lazio earlier in his career.

Some of his most esteemed teammates include Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet, Lilian Thuram, and Giorgio Chiellini, as well as the aforementioned Nesta and Cannavaro. Despite that, Nedved felt Ibrahimovic was better than them all.

Read the original

People in this story

Related