Zlatan Ibrahimović approached a penalty the way he approached most things in life: slowly, and with the air of a man doing the goalkeeper a favour by turning up. He walked to the ball, looked at the keeper as if the poor fellow had wandered onto the wrong pitch, and then hit it very hard.
The record behind the attitude is solid. Zlatan scored over 80 career penalties, with a conversion rate above 85% across his whole career. He took them in Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, England and the USA, which makes him one of the better travelled penalty takers on this list.
His clubs trusted him with the job wherever he went. He scored important penalties for PSG, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United and LA Galaxy.
Power first, placement second
The key was raw force. Even when a goalkeeper read the direction correctly, the ball tended to arrive before his hands did. This from a man who could score from 40 yards with a bicycle kick, so 12 yards probably felt a little beneath him.
Confidence, zero respect for the opposition and a ball struck like a thunderbolt. That was the Zlatan penalty, and it lands him at 22.
Tomorrow, number 21 steps up.
