In the first flush of victory, Zlatan Ibrahimovic doesn't believe in throwing a comforting arm around the losers and telling them 'we're sure ye'll be back lads'.
No, Zlatan likes to stand over the vanquished as they lie prone on the canvas and gently remind them they just lost and he just won. That is how he likes to celebrate victory.
The decisive figure in Sweden's 3-2 victory over Denmark, Zlatan fired a (fairly graceless) barb in the direction of the fallen neighbours for their alleged pre-match impudence. The Danes, he said, had wanted to send him into retirement. Something very different had transpired last night.
They said they were going to send me into retirement. I sent their whole nation into retirement.
This, needless to say, was not meant literally. The entire population of a country retiring simultaneously would be a major socio-economic disaster. No, what Zlatan is hinting at is that Denmark's population will be lying on the couch next year, keening over their absence at the festivities in France. At least, metaphorically.
