Ibrahimovic who played under the the
instruction of Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, says the Portuguese was an
inspirational coach due to his man-management style and tactical nous.
“Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for,” he
wrote in his autobiography I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, excerpts of which
have been reported in the Daily Mail.
“He works twice as hard as all the rest. Lives and breathes football
24/7. I’ve never met a manager with that kind of knowledge about the
opposing sides. It was everything, right down to the third-choice
goalkeeper’s shoe size.
“It was a while before I met him. He’s elegant, he’s confident, but I
was surprised. He looked small next to the players but I sensed it
immediately: there was this vibe around him.
“Mourinho created personal ties with the players with his text
messages and his knowledge of our situations with wives and children,
and he didn’t shout. He built us up before matches. It was like theatre,
a psychological game.”
Ibrahimovic went on to make a big-money transfer to Barcelona in
2009, but spent just a year at Camp Nou and he blames Guardiola for his
troubles.
