( Oh, great new interview with Zlatan, about being the winner of the scoring race (though it was published this morning before the final, heh), the Barcelona rumours, Paolo Maldini and more. )

So! The Eurovision Song Contest is coming up, and Sweden, fed up with getting the last spot every year with a beautiful and perfect pop-song-composed-to-sound-exactly-like-ABBA, will this time send Malena Ernman, our reknown mezzo sopran. She'll be singing a far-out tune surrounded by dancing men in diamond masks, so there!

Anyways, Malena first entered the Swedish consciousness when she performed parts of the Habanera from Bizet's opera Carmen at the Sports Gala, with lyrics that consisted of classic supporter's chants. I just felt like posting it here, for two reasons: 1, she's pretty lovely, 2: Zlatan's adorable smile when she sings "I love you, Ich liebe dich, Zlatan Ibrahimovic". Compare it with former NHL star Peter "Foppa" Forsberg and his completely clueless stone face and weep. Other highlights: at 2.03 when she starts chanting "We hate, hate, hate Gothenburg!" followed by "The referee brews his own!" and the choir's "Fuck the referee! Fuck the referee!", and then the crescendo with the Hammarby club chant ("Bajen, beer and chicks that shave!") followed by "Henke Larsson! He blows! He blows in Helsingborg!"


<3

( + a new Zlatan interview for anyone interested )

Since I'm writing a paper due in just a couple of days, naturally I'm taking a break to do a really rather random Zlatan post.

( Paris, Vincent, latest tattoo )

So, as posted yesterday, Zlatan finally agreed to an interview with Aftonbladet (it's tradition for them to interview the Golden Ball winner, and he was the first player ever to get to three), and the result is a gem. I've translated some of the highlights, but the whole thing (4 pages!) is just lovely.

(You can read about his war with Aftonbladet at # 14 and 23 in this post, as well as in the prologue to it. The reason it's apparently over now is because the new editor wrote him a letter and told him to get over himself.)

***

Reporter: "The women I know are all impressed with the fact that you're living with Helena Seger, a woman more than 10 years your senior and an independent woman with her own career."

Zlatan: "Haha, they're impressed with her for standing me, you mean? At this point we've known each other for about 7-8 years, that's quite some time. It's felt right all along. She's gotten to know me, she understands what I'm about. I've gotten to know her, I understand what she's about. And she isn't phased by my job, she knows I'll have to stay away a lot. She knows how it works.

We talk a lot. She'll tell me her ideas on all these issues. She's so fucking smart, she's so intelligent. I don't mean to brag about her, but she just is. And she's wicked in the kitchen. Okay, I'll brag about that."

***

( Much more )

( Zlatan post + Swedish Football Gala picspam )

( Autumnal pics, dismal games + The Things That Zlatan Did )

Because I can't quite let go yet, here's a post with ( Swedish tidbits. )

( Lovely interview, part III (last part) )

( Lovely interview, part II )

I just have a tape of the documentary "Circus Zlatan", that aired last night. But I'm sure someone will put it on the net eventually, so I thought I should get a translation up, that might come in handy for people if they want to watch it.

( Lovely interview, part I )

Tonight TV3 will air the much-awaited Zlatan documentary by Renée Nyberg (the one Swedish journalists that Zlatan deemed worthy). She was the only reporter who managed to get an interview with the then in hiding young man behind the Trustor raid in 1997 (the biggest and most ~devious~ corporate plundering in the history of Sweden; every Swedish guy who were a teenager back then will be able to tell you every dramatic detail of the trials and aftermath, and Zlatan, being no exception, has named one of his dogs "Trustor"). She also did a great interview with Zlatan's good friend, media-shy actor Mikael Persbrandt. By the looks of what's been shown already, it will be lovely.

I've celebrated the joyous event by translating two other, recent interviews with Zlatan by female reporters (since he will generally be more open and forthcoming in those), for anyone interested. They're long, so I chose the parts I thought were interesting.

( Translations )

Last part of the NT presentation!

( Edman, Isaksson, Källström, + Sebastian Larsson picspam )

Yeah, so this is another Zlatan post, for no apparent reason other than that I needed a break from school. And I still squee over Vincent. <3

( Five Things About Zlatan )

So! I am working on a crazy-long post about the Grenoli - the Swedish striker trio Gren, Nordahl and Liedholm that played for Milan in the fifties - and scanning tons of pics to go along with it, because vintage football is <3. But now I'm taking a break to translate some random Swedish tidbits. It's a Larsson clip, an interview with young!Zlatan (where he explains it all so very clearly) and also some Zlatan Youtube-interviews just in case anyone would like them.

( random translations, Larsson stuffing things down his pants )

( Five Things That Bring The Holiday Cheers. ♥ )

Also, some loving on Zlatan! Most of these quotes I've posted before, but they're my favourites, and they deserve a post of their own.

( Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Top Five Feminist Statements )

( + some random pretty pics )

When Marcus Allbäck (1973) follows Henrik Larsson and retires from international football, Sweden's strikers will all be of the younger generation; Zlatan Ibrahimovic (1981), Johan Elmander (1981), and Markus Rosenberg (1982) (to the Swedish NT, that's young). And while Zlatan did raise the bar considerably, Elmander and Rosenberg has quite admirably mastered the art of adorableness, as well; if you are interested, here's ( a Johan Elmander & Markus Rosenberg presentation )

Oh, I had to celebrate Sweden's qualifying somehow. I know we didn't exactly, heh, shine against Spain away (although to be fair, half the squad was injured! And Lagerbäck was saving Allbäck for the game against Latvia. We did beat Spain at home, 2-nil. *clings*). Anyways, so I settled for translating this interview with Zlatan after the final game yesterday, against Latvia in Stockholm.

( Hee. )

There are lots of posts I want to do about Zlatan (like one with caps and quotes from the documentary "Blådårar 2", because teenage!Zlatan is so adorable). But since I also want to get some more of the Swedish player presentations up it'll have to wait. To hold me over, I thought I'd do a mini Zlatan!spam with 10 more Things about him (slowly working my way up to a 100! :D), and 10 pics that make me happy. (I also do update the old Zlatan picspams regularly, so you might want to check them out.)

( 10 Things about Zlatan + 10 images )

Here's another part of my Sweden NT presentation! Next up hopefully will be Zlatan's striker partner Johan Elmander.

( Ten Things About Freddie Ljungberg, a.k.a. Oh, the silliness! (IMAGE HEAVY) )