10 Best Strikers Of The 21st Century

Total career goals: 536 and counting

There seems to be two main factors leading people to underestimate Zlatan: that he’s played four seasons in Ligue 1 and that he’s never won the Champions League. Those people should consider two things: first, Ibra didn’t play in Ligue 1, he outrageously dominated Ligue 1. The French league may not be the toughest of championships, but it still takes a special player to outshine everyone else in it. The only ones who similarly tower above the rest in Ligue 1 are Neymar and Kylian MBappe, and no one doubts they're two of the best players in the world.

Secondly, Zlatan never winning the big one says more about his career choices than his football abilities. Who doubts he could’ve walked into the 2009 Barcelona team or the 2010 Inter Milan team (instead of doing just the opposite)? Life isn’t fair. Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo and Buffon have no UCL medal, Sturridge has two.

With that out of the way, let's turn to his almighty accomplishments. Since 2000, only three players have scored more than 500 career goals: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Doesn’t matter which team he plays for, which team he plays against, or what the competition is: Zlatan scores. From the 2007-08 season up until now, he has scored more than 20 goals in all competitions in every single season, and did so playing for six different teams and in four of Europe’s top five leagues (Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Premier League). And those weren’t exactly tap-ins either. Imagine you were to make a list of the 100 best goals scored this century so far. Without exaggerating, something like a tenth of those would have to be Zlatan’s. And amongst them, maybe the best goal ever scored.

Years from now, whenever someone will score an overhead kick from outside the area, a scorpion kick from an impossible angle, or miraculous goals of the sort, it'll be referred to as 'Zlatanesque'. Isn’t that the sign you’ve truly made it?