Robert Lewandowski takes over Zlatan Ibrahimovic when penalties help secure the World Cup place
A World Cup without Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not worth seeing – according to Sweden’s best goal scorer and showman ever.
But even the great Zlatan must be very tempted to pull up his armchair and line up to see what chaos Robert Lewandowski can cause in Qatar in November.
Despite his most memorable quote, the only Sweden’s iconic striker Ibrahimovic could never boast of scoring a goal in a World Cup final.
AC Milan’s Zlatan scored 19 goals in the World Cup qualifiers but even he missed on the biggest stage of all when he failed to score in the World Cup finals in 2002 and 2006.
Do not bet that Lewandowski will suffer the same fate in Qatar this time!
Bayern Munich’s goal machine once again proved to be his nation’s talisman as he calmly put in his 75: a international goal from the penalty spot, four minutes after the break in his 129th match for Poland.
Swedish hearts sank when clumsy Jesper Karlström lived up to his “unfortunate 13” jersey number and sent former West Brom midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak to crash to the lawn inside the box.
It was a hasty move by the Swede, who plays his club football for Lech Poznan – and he will never miss a Tyskie beer in Poland for the rest of his days.
And that was the beginning of the end of Sweden’s World Cup dream when the reigning, twice crowned FIFA Men’s Player of the Year stepped up to face Aston Villas Robin Olsen.
One jump, one jump and one jump later and Lewangoalski had scored his 51st goal of the season to leave the Poles with one foot in the final.
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And the sad Swedes pressed the self-destruct button after 72 minutes when a defensive cock-up opened the door for Napoli’s Piotr Zielinski to drive through unchallenged and beat Olsen from 12 yards.
Lewandowski almost added a couple more before the end when Sweden boss Jan Andersson played his joker and sent on 40-year-old Zlatan.
But even Mr Modest could not get the miracle the Swedes demanded when Villas Matty Cash and Co finally took over the Swedes in a competitive match for the first time since 1974.
Harry Kane may just have a decent competition for the Golden Boot in Qatar this winter!