Player Focus: Another Hat Trick For Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

The three midweek fixtures in Serie A on Wednesday meant that finally the league table had parity restored as all the matches cancelled due to bad weather were played at last. This provides us with, after weeks of various teams having games-in-hand, an opportunity to assess where the clubs sit with just twelve weeks of the season remaining and, in doing so, one thing becomes abundantly clear; it will take something special from a rival to prevent a Scudetto repeat for reigning Champions AC Milan.

After an incredibly poor start to their 2011-12 campaign – one which saw them record just one win in their opening five fixtures – Massimiliano Allegri’s men have been almost unbeatable, losing just twice more in that time. Even more impressive is the fact that since the loss to Juventus in the last of those five games, only six times have the Rossoneri failed to collect all three points, giving them just one point less than at the same stage last season.

Of course the major difference between Italian football’s top division this term compared to last is the title challenge of Juventus, revitalised under Antonio Conte and remarkably still unbeaten at this late point in the season. Yet they have recorded an incredible thirteen draws, including taking just a single point in five of their last six matches, most recently on Wednesday evening when they were held by Bologna.

In beating Milan in Turin and drawing last month’s return encounter at San Siro, the Bianconeri hold the head-to-head advantage – the first decider if both finish level on points at the end of the season – but the champions hold perhaps Serie A’s biggest ace in what they hope will prove to be a winning hand; perennial league winner Zlatan Ibrahimovic. His record of consecutive league title wins is well-known, repeated infinitely to the point where its impact, which should be jaw-dropping, becomes dulled, constantly caveated with talk of his allegedly poor season with Barcelona, the lost Calciopoli titles and the questions over the ease of Inter’s subsequent dominance.

Yet to question a man who last ended a domestic campaign anywhere other than first place back in 2003 - when his Ajax side finished second – seems churlish in the extreme and, at best, a petty criticism of a player who has also netted at least fifteen goals in all but one of his last ten seasons. The only time he failed to reach that mark was in his second year at Juve when, competing for playing time with Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, he scored just ten times.

He has had no such problems since then however, breaking the bench-mark of twenty every year since 2007, a run which includes that season at Barcelona when he still managed 22 goals despite not being a major part of Pep Guardiola’s plans. This season he has been unstoppable, as his WhoScored.com rating of 8.17 shows, a figure only bettered by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the trio are the only players in Europe to average above 8 this season. While his goal scoring record may not be on a par with the La Liga pair, his tally of eighteen makes him Serie A’s leading scorer alongside the evergreen Antonio Di Natale.

Ibrahimovic’s passing game has been a major feature of Allegri’s side this year, often seeing him occupy the trequartista role when Milan are in possession as Kevin Prince Boateng and Robinho or Alex Pato run off the Swede. The 4-0 demolition of Arsenal in the Champions League showed those qualities at their best and it is no surprise to see him lead the club in terms of through balls (1.1 per game) and key passes (2.9 per game).

He has, as ever, been a model of consistency, one of only five players (the others are Thiago Silva, Antonio Nocerino, Ignazio Abate and Christian Abbiati) to have made twenty starts this season in a campaign which has seen injuries decimate the options available. With both Antonio Cassano and Alberto Aquilani missing a large number of games, he has been arguably the only truly creative player in the team most weeks, a responsibility Ibrahimovic has clearly relished.

One majorly under-appreciated part of his game is his defensive work, not the first attribute that comes to mind when thinking of a striker like Ibra, but yet another area in which he truly excels. Only Thiago Silva – perhaps currently Europe’s best defender – has won more aerial duels (41 compared to Ibra’s 34) as both average 1.7 per game. He has also made 30 defensive clearances and 24 tackles, giving him surprising averages of 1.5 and 1.2 per game respectively.

Despite five goals and three assists in six Champions League appearances this season, the clichés about him not excelling in the latter stages have yet to be fully allayed and it seems he may need to win over those critics in order to be fully appreciated. He scored three goals in last weekend’s demolition of Palermo and he is clearly on course for another hat-trick of domestic Player of the Year (won back in January), top scorer and league. Few would bet against him doing just that as, after all, he is Zlatan, that’s what he does.