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Graffiti daycare tribute for Ajax hero Zlatan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's three-year exploits with Dutch side Ajax in his youth have been honoured with an unusual tribute - a graffiti mural depicting the Swedish football star on a childcare centre in Amsterdam.

Graffiti daycare tribute for Ajax hero Zlatan

The work of art was carried out by Kamp Seedorf, a street art group in the Netherlands. Zlatan is the latest in a long line of Ajax heroes to be honoured by the artists after previous works of Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Clarence Seedorf.

“Our works are (illegal) street pieces of our favourite football players. We like the eccentric players like Zlatan so it was an easy decision to create one of him,” artist Clyde told The Local.

The graffiti is painted on the side of of a childcare centre in the east of Amsterdam.

“It was already full of graffiti so we figured it was good enough for us. The location is great in Amsterdam as trams and passing cars can see the it,” said Clyde.

Zlatan moved from hometown club Malmö FF to Ajax in 2001 and went on to win two Eredivisie titles with the Amsterdam giants. He is fondly remembered for netting a remarkable goal against NAC Breda in 2004, when he dribbled past several players and scored.

“When Zlatan came to Ajax opinions were mixed but he proved himself. Everybody is now very proud that he played for the club and we love him as a footballer and as a person. He remains a hero,” added Clyde.

Since leaving the Dutch club in 2004 Ibrahimovic has starred for Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. He’s won league titles with them all (ten) and has recently been linked with another big money move to Real Madrid.

Patrick Reilly

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FOOTBALL

Zlatan statue loses nose in latest Malmö vandalism

The statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Malmö has suffered its latest damage in a string of attacks by vandals.

Zlatan statue loses nose in latest Malmö vandalism
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

During Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday, the nose was sawed off the Zlatan statue and the effigy was also covered in silver paint, media including SVT report.

Since being unveiled in the presence of the world-famous footballer in October, the statue has been damaged on several occasions.

At the end of November, Zlatan announced his investment in rival team Hammarby, angering many fans of his hometown club Malmö FF.

READ ALSO: How Malmö fell out of love with Zlatan Ibrahimovic

December has already seen paint poured over the statue and a foot sawn off, with this weekend’s incident adding to the list of crunching tackles against the Zlatan statue.

Police said on Sunday they would investigate the latest instance of vandalism.

“We have not received any reports but have been informed that damage has been seen by the public. We will go out there and make observations this morning,” Katarina Rusin, a press spokesperson for the police in the southern Sweden region, told SVT.

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