To say the former Manchester United, PSG, Milan, Barcelona, Inter, Juventus, Ajax and now LA Galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become more of a celebrity than a sporting icon since his move to the MLS would be an utter understatement.
Since the time, the former Sweden captain has indulged himself in not just several promotional activities, but has also appeared on many television shows. And the recent one he was invited in was the James Corden’s Late Late Show on Wednesday, where he was put to test in diverse activities and was also asked about his body art.
Making yet another appearance in Corden’s show, Ibrahimovic was asked to perform four different tasks which started with a question whether he can name all three Kardashians. A game which was named “Can Zlatan?” was followed by asking the footballer whether he can open an old jar of pickles, which he did.
And then came the dance. Corden doubted Zlatan’s ability but the footballer stood up and performed the moves much to the delight of the audience. Ibrahimovic was joined by the Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike and all three took part in the final challenge, which was to pronounce ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ with a mouth full of marshmallows.
Back in June this year, Zlatan took part in an exposing nude photoshoot where he showed off his intensive back tattoos for the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue. The 37-year-old explained that he was extremely reluctant in doing the photoshoot in the beginning, but eventually accepted the offer.
In the beginning before everything happened I said, ‘I’m not doing it, no way, there’s no chance, tell them we’re doing something different,’” Ibrahimovic said.
“And they were like, ‘It’s never happened before’ and I was like, until the end, ‘I will not do it’.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did a nude photoshoot with ESPN
I come to this table on the day we’re doing the shooting and I have five different G-strings,” Ibrahimovic told Corden. “I’m like, ‘No way.’ I tried one pair and after a while, I was feeling comfortable — but not in the G-string, with the situation — and then the G-string went off and we made the picture.”
So there is this blue mandala-style tattoos on his buttocks which nobody knew about before the pictures went out. So obviously the question went up as to which tattoo was the toughest to get, and the striker replied,
“The lowest area in the picture. Every time he (the tattooist) put in the pencil it was like, ‘Uh oh,’ and he was like, ‘Relax, I know what I’m doing.’
“(I said) ‘Yeah, yeah, but this is not your area’.”
