'I became a machine' at Juventus, reveals Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he became a goalscoring machine when he joined Juventus, thanks to Fabio Capello's training.

Ibrahimovic

Source: Getty Images

The towering striker was snapped up by the Italian giants from Ajax in 2004, and was initially more of a flashy showboater than a devastating goalscorer.

That all changed thanks to then-Juve coach Capello, who insisted he work on his finishing with intense shooting drills.

"In the beginnig, where I grew up it was not about scoring goals - it was about who had the best skills, the best technique,” Ibrahimovic told BBC Sport.

“That changed when I came to Juventus.

"I was at Ajax, playing beautifully. I had the pressure there too, but where it was all about goals was in Italy, with Capello.

“From the first day after training I heard Fabio Capello scream 'Ibra!'. And he just pointed toward his assistant, the old man Italo [Galbiati]. He had already taken guys from the academy and youth team and I trained with them.

"They gave crosses and I scored, every day for 30 minutes.

“Sometimes I just wanted to go home because I was tired and did not want to shoot any more - I didn't want to see the goal or the goalkeeper.

“I would try to go home before everyone else and I'd just hear 'Ibra!' and I knew immediately what it was. I was shooting, just shooting, good shots, bad shots," the Swede explained.

“In the end I became a machine - in front of goal, score a goal - especially in Italy, where as a striker it’s the most difficult position, because they are so tactically good, and at that time you had all these world class dedenders.

"But I had that luck that I had [Gianluigi] Buffon as a training partner and in front of him was [Lilian] Thuram and [Fabio] Cannavaro.

“You don't go past them feeling good. If you go past them you'll have pain everywhere.

"So I had a good environment to train that skill to score goals and the goals would come as long as you trained.”


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'I became a machine' at Juventus, reveals Ibrahimovic | SBS Sport