Ibrahimovic’s Two Goals

A wonderful chip by Ibrahimovic for Barcelona’s first goal.

If you give Xavi that much time he’s going to kill you, as he does by putting Ibrahimovic through for his second goal of the game.

It was an amazing game, especially the first twenty minutes, as Barcelona hammered Arsenal and didn’t let them have any time on the ball. It was goal scoring chance after goal scoring chance, with Arsenal keeper Almunia saving Arsenal not once but four or five times in one sequence.

I wanted Thierry Henry to come on, even earlier than he did, but I would
have brought off Pedro because Ibrahimovic was in the zone and perhaps on the verge of scoring a hat trick. I just don’t think you take a player off who’s scored twice and coming out a slump to an extent.

Pedro wasn’t playing bad or anything but I thought Ibrahimovic deserved to play through after he scored the two goals and he didn’t let the fact that he missed a sitter early in the game get him down. A good lesson to any young forward, forget the misses and focus instead on the next scoring chance.

Talk about pressure, with the huge amount of money Barcelona paid for Ibrahimovic’s services, he constantly is quetioned if he misses any chances or starts to play poorly in stretches. Fans wonder if Barcelona should have kept Eto’o, saying, ‘Oh, Eto’o would have scored that chance.’ So for Ibrahimovic to get two goals in such a big game, again quiets any critics.

If you still don’t think Ibrahimovic is an amazing player, take a look at this pass and then this goal.