Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal against DC United- Ultimate Tekkers!

Part three in our #ultimatetekkers series is another Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal!


This time it is for his current club, Paris Saint-Germain... TWO minutes into his debut in a friendly game against the MLS team, DC United.


Take a look at the video below:

A lot different from the last goal we did an #ultimatetekkers breakdown for. This is your typical Zlatan finish, cool with the ball at his feet, great use of the body to manipulate the defender. Let's break the goal down!

Ibrahimovic receives the ball is in his own half. Immediately plays it back to his midfielder (playing the way he was facing) and spins off his defender, and turns into the space. Note that the defender is still with him at this point.

Before the player on the right has even touched the ball, Ibrahimovic has seen the massive gap and has already called for the ball. Note that he holds the defender off when starting his explosive sprint, and actually pushed off him to gain an extra yard. This is where his experience comes in!

The ball played to Zlatan was impeccable, rolling in line with the run he had made. Zlatan has beaten his defender in the foot race, glanced up to where the keeper is and looks like he is about to chip the ball. Look at how his body shapes like he is about to strike the ball. At Beast Mode Soccer training sessions we have our players over emphasize these types of fakes, so that when they are done in games they look realistic. When I first saw this goal, I thought Zlatan was going to dink it over the keeper at this point... but no!

As the defender comes to shoulder level with Ibrahimovic whips a Cruyff turn. This wrong foots the defender, who to be fair recovers well. Look how controlled Ibrahimovic looks, he knows that the ball will do exactly what he wants! 

The defender did really well at this stage. He recovered from the Fake shot cruyff and now look how close he is to the ball. Ibra keeps the ball moving though and puts a quick left foot lunge step, then quickly plays the ball across his body with his right foot, immediately shaping up for his left footed shot.

He allows the ball to roll just enough across his body, then gears up  to strike. Again, the defender doesn't actually do that poorly, he hasn't gone to ground, but it is probably in the back of his head that inside the box, Ibra is the master of the fake shot. As Ibra shoots, he tries to block the shot but it's too late, the ball is in the back of the net.

Great footwork from Ibrahimovic- A fake shot into a Cruyff into a left footed lunge into a right foot tap into a left footed shot.

Ibrahimovic #ultimatetekkers