Zlatan Ibrahimovic wins libel lawsuit vs. coach who questioned his physique
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has won a defamation lawsuit against a former coach in Sweden who dared to question how Zlatan became, well, Zlatan.
Ulf Karlsson, Sweden's former national athletics coach, has been fined a little more than $2,000 for comments he made speculating that Zlatan must have been taking performance-enhancing drugs to achieve his god-like physique.
"Zlatan gained 10 kilos of muscle in six months at Juventus. That is impossible in such a short time," Karlsson said in one statement on a panel. In another to a newspaper, he said, "I think he was doped. I am convinced.”
He later apologized, but Ibrahimovic filed the lawsuit anyway. The striker, who played for Juventus from 2004-06, has never tested positive for doping.
Karlsson may have been trying to come to grips with the fact that Zlatan doesn’t seem like a normal person. At 35, the Manchester United striker is showing few signs of slowing down. Is there any concrete evidence yet to disprove Zlatan's a superhuman?
Look, the guy has his own word in the Swedish dictionary — "zlatanera," meaning "to dominate,” was added in his honor. And Zlatan has done his part to play up his larger-than-life person, famously quipping about his PSG exit: "I came like a king, I left like a legend.”
The former coach was acquitted of his comment he made to the newspaper, but not the one he made on the panel.
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