Over the weekend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed a brief glimpse of his human side with a shocking miss against Reims in Ligue 1. We're guessing that he wasn't particularly pleased with the whole 'fallen hero' thing but, fear not, his halo is well and truly back in its rightful place.
A Swedish news outlet is today reporting that Zlatan has paid for Sweden's intellectually disabled football team to travel to the INAS World Football Championship in Brazil.
The team were struggling to raise funds to travel to Brazil and coach Stefan Jonsson requested a jersey from Zlatan to auction off in the hope of raising some of the money. According to Jonsson, Zaltan went much further.
He (Zlatan) said, 'What the hell are you going with a jersey? What does it cost to go?" When we said that we need to SEK 350 000. He asked for the account number and deposited it.
350,000 Swedish krona is €38,000. Granted, that's pocket change to the PSG striker but to go out of his way to help nonetheless says a lot about the man.
Zlatan spoke about the donation, saying that his disappointment at missing out on this summer's World Cup in Brazil played a part in his desire to give the team a bit of a hand.
Football should be played by anyone, regardless of gender, disability or not. And when we missed the World Cup, I was deeply disappointed.
I said to myself that I wanted to do everything in my power to help them to experience the World Cup. There was nothing to think about. It was a given.
Jonsson has also spoke to another Swedish newspaper, Expressen, about how the donation brought a tear to the eye of Helena Seger, Zlatan's partner.
Helena Seger was sincerely touched and cried when he told her about his gesture. They seem to be really nice people, both of them. And Zlatan is really the opposite of what people think he is – a warm and kindful person.
The competition kicks off in Sao Paulo on Monday night with Sweden taking on Japan on Friday and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
[Translated from dn.se]
Elsewhere in 'footballers proving they're not heartless pricks' - Steven Naismith and Liverpool's unemployed.
