It was incredible to work with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and José Mourinho. They are two winners with great personalities, two real football people. The Manchester United fans can really look forward to having two world-class people at the team, one on the bench and one on the pitch. The two of them can turn Manchester United into winners again.
That winning mentality is something that has been missing a little during the David Moyes and Louis van Gaal spells in charge and Mourinho, as a manager, is the ideal person to bring it back. He is a manager who always knows how to create something special wherever he has been. Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, is a striker who wins games for teams, as simple as that.
The Ibrahimovic I played with in 2008-09 was a different one to the one we see now. Back then, he was very impulsive: a fantastic champion who could decide games on his own but still too young to understand about the importance of the whole group.
Now, when I went to see him at Paris Saint-Germain, I noticed that he was much more mature with a fantastic relationship with a lot of the players in the PSG squad, from Marco Verratti and Javier Pastore to Ezequiel Lavezzi. This was an Ibra who had learned the importance of the squad that was competing at the top of the league and in the Champions League.
Zlatan wanted to win the Champions League at any cost. One time I saw him upset and I explained to him how important it is to stay together and to be united with his team-mates. I said: “Zlatan, in Champions League, if you mess up one game you are out. One bad evening is enough and in those moments you need your team-mates to help you.”
Later he did understand that and in Paris he was very appreciated in the dressing room. I remember him and Mourinho at the end of the season when we had won the Scudetto and they were so happy: they hugged, they smiled, two leaders, two sinners, who were getting rid of the tension built up during the season. It was a special feeling.
With both José and Ibra you only needed a second to understand them. One little look, one sentence. The most special thing with Mourinho is his ability to create a special bond with every player: he always knew what to say to every player after every game, which was extremely impressive. So he knew how to handle Zlatan. One time, after a defeat, Zlatan was furious. You just needed to look at him to see how angry he was. Mourinho, however, went to speak to him and in a few moments he had resolved the issue. Zlatan, for the next game, was even more motivated and we were superb with Zlatan the best player on the pitch.
My relationship with Zlatan, if you allow me to say so, was special. There was one game, Cagliari v Inter, during which nothing was working – we were so bad it wasn’t easy to see that we were actually playing football. I was running around a lot and Zlatan was really angry with all of us. When he came to me to tell me off for something I spoke to him and said: “Keep calm Zlatan … I’m not a young guy, I am Hernán Crespo.” And from that moment we had a fantastic relationship, with a lot of respect. Ibrahimovic made me understand that he admired the career I’d had, as an older player with more experience than him. We were always good friends and there was no lack of respect for me from him. Zlatan always made me score lots of goals – four or five – in training matches and then, on Sundays, in the league, he always scored. I told him: “If you passed to me like you do in training then I would be top scorer!”
And then he smiled because he became the top scorer in Serie A in the end. And in the meantime he learned how to think more about others. Make no mistake about it, he is a phenomenon. He has been unlucky to play in the same era as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, otherwise he would have been the best player of his time.
My relationship with José was fantastic, too. He adored me. I had already had him as a manager at Chelsea and I always said that he would be perfect at Inter. And then he came and he won everything with the club. I was very pleased when he came to Inter, he knew that I was an “easy” player to manage: I never complained, not even when I ended up on the bench. I always gave everything, whether I played for 90 minutes or for five minutes. And in training I never stopped. To me, he really is the “Special One”. Even when you are not playing he supports you, he makes you feel important. With me he really was fantastic.
There was one episode in particular that I remember that showed just why he is so loved by all his players. It was my last year at Inter and we had won the Scudetto in good time and there was no pressure. It was the last game, Inter v Atalanta, at San Siro and the club had let me know that they would not renew my contract, I was out of their plans, which was fine, considering my age [33].
But I still wanted to contribute. I didn’t expect anything but suddenly Mourinho came to me and said: “Hernán, I am putting you on, are you ready?” I didn’t expect that. I came on in the 65th minute and I did something amazing on the right and crossed the ball into the penalty area where Zlatan scored with a backheel! Ibra came over to say that I was fantastic and Mourinho was very emotional.
Zlatan and José are extraordinary people and this, to me, demonstrated that. I wish them all the best at Manchester United. Seeing them together again will be beautiful. I think it will be a successful reunion.
Hernán Crespo was speaking to Fabrizio Romano
(Guardian service)
