A statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been the target of more vandalism – this time, its nose has been chopped off.
Ibrahimovic angered fans of his Swedish boyhood club, Malmo, last month when he bought a stake in one of its title rivals, Hammarby, and outlined his desire to make the Stockholm-based team “the best in Scandinavia”.
Hours after that was announced, a statue of Ibrahimovic that is located outside Malmo’s stadium was attacked, with vandals attempting to set it on fire and writing racist graffiti next to it.
On December 12, there was an attempt to saw off the statue’s legs.
Now, its nose has been cut off and the bronze statue has been sprayed silver.
A petition has been set up to remove the statue, with more than 8,000 people signing it.
Ibrahimovic has said he will not play in Sweden again — he started his career at Malmo, where he was born, in 1999 — and is still weighing up where to play next.
He recently left the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Ajax, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United in a trophy-laden career.
