Spanish Football / Ben Lyttleton / 26 October 2009 / Leave a comment

When Zlatan Ibrahimovic was bought for €35m plus Samuel Eto'o, eyebrows were raised about the cost of the transfer. Ben Lyttleton tells us why it may have proven to have been a masterstroke by Pep Guardiola after all as the giant Swede is becoming the team's key player...

"Zlatan has also showed himself to be a willing learner and has taken up new positions in the area which seemed anathema to him in Milan."

Two games without a win is hardly a crisis but when you are the European champions and one of those games is a home loss to a Russian team, then questions start to be asked. That was certainly the case at Barcelona this week, who followed up last week's goalless draw at Valencia with a 2-1 Camp Nou loss to Rubin Kazan.

It made Sunday night's game against newly-promoted Real Zaragoza all the more important, especially as Rubin boss Kurban Berdyev had seemed to heed the advice of Valencia's Unai Emery, who went public on how he thought teams should play against the Spanish and European champions. "Barcelona do have weaknesses and they can be exploited if you populate the midfield, and be aggressive when they have the ball," he said.

There were other concerns going into the game, not least over the defensive frailties shown by Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, Thierry Henry's run of injuries this season, the team's lack of late goals (such a crucial part of last season's success) and the form of Lionel Messi, a shoo-in for next month's Ballon D'Or award but a shadow of the player who terrorised defenders last term. Pep Guardiola had asked for a left-winger to be bought for him in the summer - Franck Ribery and David Silva were options - and the failure to buy one was starting to look costly. Until Sunday night, that is.

Barcelona tore Zaragoza to pieces, winning 6-1 in a result that moved them three points clear of Real Madrid, who could only draw 0-0 with Sporting Gijon. There were two stars for Barcelona: midfielder Seydou Keita, who hit a hat-trick, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored two and set up one more and has now scored seven goals in as many league appearances.

The Swedish striker, whose signing from Internazionale in return for Samuel Eto and some €35m raised eyebrows across the continent, is proving to be a canny purchase by Guardiola. He is different to Eto'o and is forcing Barcelona to play a different way, still using pace on the flanks but, by being a deep-lying forward, inviting the midfielders to overtake him and make runs into the box. Zlatan has also showed himself to be a willing
learner and has taken up new positions in the area which seemed anathema to him in Milan.

In Sweden, the debates continue about how someone so powerful (he's 6'3" and
weighs 93kgs) can be so nimble and skilful. His physical trainer at first club Malmo, Jorgen Becke, who trained Sweden's Olympic sprinters, has claimed it's down to the muscle set-up in his back and abdomen, while his ex-coach Jonas Weirmola argued it's his low centre of gravity and "ankles of steel".

Zlatan has said he is helped by visions he has when he's on the pitch, and the clearer the image of what is going to happen next, the more likely it is to happen. "When I'm not on form, the images are still there but they're blurred," he admitted.

With Messi already looking tired and out of sorts - the situation is so worrying for the club that they are talking about giving him an extended holiday over Christmas - Zlatan is fast becoming the key player for Barcelona. The only time they have failed to win in the league this season, against Valencia, Zlatan did not play.

This is the time in his career for Zlatan to prove he is no flat-track bully: he has come in to ([3.6]) to finish La Liga's top scorer, with only David Villa's ([2.4]) a shorter price, while Barcelona are just [1.4] to win La Liga, [5.0] to win the Champions League and ([14.5]) to repeat last season's treble.

One final point: amid reports that Fifa were concerned that the likes of Messi, Ribery, and Cristiano Ronaldo may miss the World Cup with their respective countries, Zlatan's Sweden won't be in South Africa. So no matter how good he may be this season, we still won't see him tested against the very best next summer.

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