The Real Zlatan

A smile spreads across the familiar features of the 6ft 5in Paris St-Germain striker as he considers this popular perception of him, according to BBC.
"I read all the time that people think I'm arrogant," he says, settling down for our one-hour interview in Stockholm. "They say I am cocky, a bad character. I had that from a young age. But when they meet me, they say 'that image doesn't fit you.' Where I come from you never judge a person until you meet them. I would never do that."
So, who is the real Zlatan?
"I always put myself second - I like to make others happy," he explains. "Wherever I have played, I have won (nine league titles in the past 10 seasons with five clubs). But I only feel satisfied if my team-mates, the fans, everyone is happy. I have a big heart."
Is it true that he is hard to manage? "No. That is a picture someone painted of me that follows me wherever I go. If you talk to the coaches I have played for, the only one that would say maybe I was a problem was Pep Guardiola. (That is) if he has something to say, which I don't find he has."
More on that later.
Ibrahimovic is here to discuss his book - I Am Zlatan. It is the brutally honest story of a boy who shook off the shackles of poverty and discrimination to become one of the world's great footballers, the captain of Sweden and a millionaire who won over the blonde from the right side of the tracks.
There are all the ingredients of a modern fairytale. It seems no punches are pulled, no words left unspoken and every aspect of his career is discussed.
The 31-year-old arrives for the interview almost two hours early, dressed in Sweden training gear and with his hair pulled back in a ponytail. He repeatedly apologises for a cough he has developed in recent days, asks if his near-perfect English is OK and he shares stories about his two sons.
He is relaxed, open, funny and generous with his time. None of this sits comfortably with the stereotype that has come to define Ibrahimovic in the minds of those who have never met him. Part of that is down to his own admittedly wild behaviour as a young man.
The son of a tough Croatian mother and hard-drinking Bosnian father, he grew up in the Malmo ghetto of Rosengard. They were outsiders living in a parallel world to mainstream Sweden. His parents broke up when he was two and his household was a battleground - a place where you were more likely to get hit than hugged.
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