Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Ibrahimovic - Goals will come

Ibrahimovic - Goals will come

Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic claims he is unfazed by his lack of goals since the turn of the year and claims assisting a team-mate is as important as scoring.

The technically-gifted centre-forward has suffered a barren spell in front of goal in 2010 after a scintillating start to his Barca career following his mega-money summer switch from Inter Milan.

Ibrahimovic flew out of the traps in the first half of the season, scoring 11 goals in La Liga to help the Spanish treble winners soar to top spot, but the Swedish international has not scored in the league since 12th December.

But the former Juventus and Ajax man insists there is no need to be concerned and that it will be just a matter of time before he hits the goal trail once again.

"I'm not worried, this has happened to me other times," Ibrahimovic told El Periodico de Catalunya .

Rollercoaster

"In my first year at Ajax I started very well, then things went bad, then well again... a rollercoaster.

"It's normal, because you have to adapt to many things and in very little time. The same thing happened when I arrived at Juventus and at Inter, a season with ups and downs."

Ibrahimovic believes he is still contributing to Barca's success after supplying seven assists this term and the Catalans remain at the Spanish summit, five points clear of Real Madrid.

And the 28-year-old, whose side scored have netted 16 goals in a six-match winning streak, reckons setting up a team-mate is as important as scoring himself.

"Obviously, being the number nine and a centre-forward in a team like Barcelona, it's important to score goals, but that's not everything - at least not for me.

"If you participate in the play and set up team-mates, I feel just as good,"

"An assist is like a goal, because you are making a team-mate happy. And this is as important for me as scoring.

"I'm not worried about this poor run because the goals will end up coming. If you play well, you help the team. If you create chances, you score."

a.top_betting_link_1 {background-image: url('/Images/skysports/fixturecal/icons/fix-bet.gif');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:0% 50%;padding-left:18px;}Champions League Top Goalscorer 09/10: Ibrahimovic, Z. 16/1

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