‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic Ended My England Career in 10 Minutes – I Never Played Again’..
While a lot of attention is paid to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s character and his larger-than-life personality, his ego wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective if he wasn’t also one of the best players on the planet during the prime of his career. The Swede was a phenom in front of goal and no matter where he went, he never had trouble finding the back of the net.
Ibrahimovic played for some of the best teams in the world throughout his time on the pitch and is one of the most decorated footballers of all time in terms of trophies won. He represented Barcelona, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United among a number of other notable teams. With his powerful frame, but his agile nature and his unrelenting speed, there weren’t many defenders in the beautiful game who could keep him quiet for long. Having retired in 2023, the striker played a total of 949 games for club and country, scoring 558 goals along the way.
Coming up against the star in his prime could have devastating effects on a player’s career too, as one England centre-back realised when his international career was brutally cut short after facing off with Ibrahimovic.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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Ibrahimovic Killed Ryan Shawcross’ England Career
The former Stoke City man revealed as much
Ryan Shawcross pointing
After several years impressing for Stoke City in the Premier League, Ryan Shawcross earned a call-up to the England team for the first time ever in 2012. Fans had been calling for the star to receive a chance in the national side for a while and he was finally granted an opportunity, but his debut happened to come against Sweden. There, he was given the unenviable task of trying to contain Ibrahimovic and in his own words, it didn’t go well. In fact, he became a laughingstock to his family because of it. Via quotes shared by the Telegraph, Shawcross said:
“I’m the butt of the joke in my family, just because the 10 minutes I had in international football was ruined by one man. They are consistently saying that Zlatan ruined my career! I had a chance and I don’t think many other defenders have stopped him. I was given 10 minutes to show what I could do and probably didn’t provide a good enough performance. I was against one of the best strikers in the world who was on a hot streak at the time and these things happen.”
The centre-back was in good spirits talking about the incident at the time, but he never made another appearance for England throughout the remainder of his career. It’s a shame, too, as he had a solid run in the Premier League and did more than enough to earn another chance.
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Ryan Shawcross’ Premier League Career
He was superb for Stoke
Ryan Shawcross
He never managed to move to one of the biggest clubs in England, but for the most part, Shawcross was an elite defender and managed to hold his own against some of football’s best strikers in the Premier League for quite some time. After coming through the ranks at Manchester United, he went out on loan to Royal Antwerp and Stoke, eventually signing a permanent deal with the latter. The Potters were a Championship club at the time, but it wasn’t long before they earned promotion to the top flight with him in the heart of their defence.
From there, he helped Stoke solidify themselves as a midtable Premier League team and they operated in the top flight for 10 seasons before they were relegated back down to the Championship. During his time in the Premier League, though, he was mightily impressive and was linked with a move to a number of different sides over the years. None of them materialised, though, and he remained with Stoke for 13 years.
During that time, the centre-back played 453 games for the Potters, with 317 of them coming in the top flight. He was a tremendous servant for the team, but left in 2021 when he moved to Inter Miami. He spent just one season with them before retiring, but he never got to play for his country again and it’s safe to say that Ibrahimovic might have played a part in that.
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