AN ODE TO ZLATAN: WORLD CUP WILL MISS HIM

If you haven't seen Zlatan Ibrahimovic's wonder goal against Nantes from last night, stop what you're doing and find it on YouTube right now. Capitalising on a hasty clearance, Ibra, with one touch, floated a superb long distance lob straight into the back of the net from about 30 yards making the opposing goalkeeper look like a chump. Zlatan has been scoring goals like this for fun since his move to Paris St. Germain from AC Milan for an initial €20m in the summer of 2012. Freed from the shackles of playing against the stingey defences of Serie A, Ibrahimovic has continued to showcase his world class talents but is now more mature and is displaying his artistry with aplomb week-in, week-out. At times, his goals are so sensational that they look like something out of a computer game. His spectacular strikes remind you of playing FIFA or Pro Evo when realising you should be upping the difficulty level because it's starting to get too damn easy!

The goal against Nantes was only the most recent of his crazy strikes. On at least two non-consecutive occasions in recent seasons, the Swedish genius has had me jumping off the couch, getting on my knees and punching the air as if I had scored myself. The first occasion was that magnificent bicycle kick in the international friendly against England in November 2012, the second being his absolutely jaw-dropping hat-trick against Anderlecht for PSG earlier this season. Say what you like about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, they can make the impossible seem mundane, but Zlatan's attacking antics still bring about those reactions that made us fall in love with the game in the first place. You see, CR7 and El Mesias will probably both go down in the top 5 list of all-time players once they retire. Zlatan won't be mentioned in the same breath. Only since getting out of Italy, with a somewhat unsuccessful stint at Barcelona in-between, have English audiences appreciated his genius and even still, he fails to get nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Don't get me wrong, Franck Ribery is a fine team player and an absolute workhorse but for my money, he's not even in the same stratosphere as an individual talent like Ibra.

Ibrahimovic will definitely be the most missed player at next summer's World Cup. Colombia's Radamel Falcao and England's Theo Walcott are ruled out through injury and Argentina probably won't be calling up Carlos Tevez but Zlatan's omission trumps any of those. It was Sir Alex Ferguson who declared that the European Champions League had overtaken the World Cup as the best pure football tournament in the world. The ECL is Zlatan's biggest domain now that he's out of the international picture (will he still be playing international football in time for EURO 2016?) so keep watching it because he'll probably remind us again of what we'll miss in Brazil.

D. Ray Morton, 5th February 2014.