Ibramania! Zlatan Ibrahimovic is winning a Galaxy of kudos
LOS ANGELES — A pack of more than two dozen reporters from almost as many countries stood outside the Galaxy locker room Saturday, shivering each time a cold blast of air shot up the narrow, concrete corridor.
It wasn’t long ago that Major League Soccer wouldn’t have garnered this kind of attention had it staged a game on a beach in Hawaii.
Now media members were risking frostbite to cover a relatively meaningless game played at a stadium located in the middle of a prairie.
For that the league can thank Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish superstar all those reporters had come to see.
After stops in Holland, Italy, Spain, France and England, Ibrahimovic’s world tour has come to the U.S., with the man who has compared himself to a god, a king and Julius Caesar taking on the part of a young Mick Jagger, preening and prancing his way across the continent.
Ibrahimovic has appeared on ESPN, FS1 and Univision.
He’s warmed up with the Kings hockey team and stood courtside with Shaquille O’Neal.
The Galaxy have fielded more than 400 interview requests on his behalf and sold more jerseys than any other MLS team since he arrived last month.
Ibramania is so big that when he took the show on the road last week, wide-eyed fans crowding around the luggage carousel at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport forced Ibrahimovic and his beefy bodyguard to seek refuge outside.
Other people endured frigid temperatures to stand vigil outside the historic Blackstone Hotel but caught only a glimpse of the player as he dashed across the sidewalk and into the team
bus. A stadium-record crowd of nearly 22,000 filled Toyota Park in suburban Bridgeview for Saturday’s performance, braving howling winds and a wind chill to see Ibrahimovic take the stage.
And the showman didn’t disappoint, making the first start of his MLS career and delivering the only goal in the Galaxy’s 1-0 win over the Fire.
“It isn’t every day you get to see a living legend,” said Jeff
Church, a Fire season-ticket holder who wore a white Galaxy jersey with Ibrahimovic’s name and number on the back.
Another fan, Jake Daar, flew in from North Carolina. Another, Darren Goodwin, drove up from St. Louis.
“I never thought I’d be breathing the same air as Zlatan,” Goodwin said.
“He’s a mythological figure. In American sports, he’s probably somewhere between Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan.”
Which is why Marian Hossa — a five-time NHL All-Star who shared the ice with Gretzky and shares the city of Chicago with Jordan — waited a half-hour after the game before asking Ibrahimovic to pose with him for
a selfie.
The Galaxy know how to handle the attention that comes with a player like Ibrahimovic, having gone through it with David Beckham and Steven Gerrard.
“You just kind of get conditioned that it’s normal at the Galaxy now,” defender Dave Romney said.
For all his ego, Ibrahimovic does his best to blend in around his teammates — not easy when you’re six-foot-five.
The day before, after the game, Ibrahimovic had been a proper diva, keeping the media waiting before emerging with Bastian Schweinsteiger, a Fire midfielder and former Man United teammate.
Schweinsteiger has won both a World Cup and a Champions League crown —Ibrahimovic has won neither —but was now reduced to being a bit player.
The show was over but the encore was about to begin.
“Are they here for you or are they here for me? You tell me,” Ibrahimovic said, smiling broadly and pointing to the waiting reporters.
“Come, Basti. I’ll make you big in your own town.”