Can Erözden
05 January 2020•Update: 06 January 2020
ANKARA
A statue of renowned Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Sweden's Malmo was taken down by vandals on Sunday.
A Swedish news website, "thelocal.se", said that Ibrahimovic's 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) long sculpture, Statue of Zlatan, was cut down by vandals.
Thomas Soderberg, Malmo police operations leader, told local media the police have seen the damaged statue on Sunday morning.
The website added that vandals put Swedish national football team shirt on the Ibrahimovic statue.
Malmo-born legend Ibrahimovic, 38, is one of the most prolific Swedish forwards, who previously played for European football giants, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.
Ibrahimovic was a Malmo player in 1999-2001, and later he was signed by Ajax Amsterdam.
He netted 62 goals in 116 appearances for Sweden to be this country's all-time top scorer.
In January 2020, Ibrahimovic left the U.S. club Los Angeles Galaxy to join his ex-team AC Milan.
Statue of Zlatan faces attacks
The AC Milan forward invested in a Swedish top-tier Allsvenskan club Hammarby in November 2019, buying shares of it, which angered the Malmo fans seeing Hammarby as rivals.
In October 2019, Ibrahimovic's statue was revealed outside the Malmo's Eleda Stadium to honor the Swedish forward and was attacked several times by vandals after he purchased Hammarby shares.
"Hammarby is a fantastic club with passionate supporters and is well respected in both Stockholm and Sweden," Ibrahimovic said in a statement, adding that he "always liked" Hammarby and its fans.
