LA Galaxy drew LAFC 1-1 in El Trafico where the almighty Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored goal No. 499 on Saturday. Now, Zlatan is one goal away from the 500 mark. Can the unstoppable Swede hit the 500th against Real Salt Lake on Saturday?
With Ola Kamara’s cross aimed right at Zlatan, the former Red Devil punted it from the right of the box. The clarity of the goal was in question, but luckily, at least this one time, VAR was there for the rescue.
1-0 @LAGalaxy!
After video review, Zlatan gives the Galaxy the lead. #LAvLAFC // Heineken #RivalryWeek https://t.co/XLLAATSRIH— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 25, 2018
When Zlatan first started out with Malmö, he only played six games and scored one as the club was relegated from the Swedish league for the first time since World War II. Now, Zlatan’s name is deified to football believers and non-believers alike.
“I trained a lot for those goals, and when it happens, it will be cool to have 500 goals,” Zlatan told the LA Times in early August. “Every goal has its own adrenaline, its own emotion.”
When the 36-year-old hits the 500th goal, he'll joins Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the only active footballers to have 500 goals for both club and country.
Zlatan will also be joining a super-elite echelon of players with more than 500 goals. Czech-Austrian footballer Josef “Pepi” Bican leads the list with over 800 goals in 530 matches. Brazil’s Romario and Pelé lead the list after Bican with 772 and 767 goals, respectively.
Despite Zlatan’s ultra-arrogant antics, often justified by his mere existence, he doesn’t always look as cool as he thinks. He looks like the psychotic, mommy-issues-riddled Trevor Philips from Grand Theft Auto V in this video:
Rollin' in LA pic.twitter.com/OpoBWrrLQj
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) August 7, 2018
Ronaldo and Messi both have over 600 goals but Zlatan’s joining has that über cool feel to it and MLS has gotten a high dosage lately with incredible goal scoring with the likes of Josef Martinez.
I would say only time will tell when the 500th goal is scored, but I also think time doesn’t have Zlatan’s permission to speak on the matter.