As Zlatan Ibrahimovic surpasses a century of goals in Serie A, Rob Paton reflects on his development into one of the League’s deadliest strikers.

“I heard Capello shout ‘Ibra, come here’. The anxiety I get from being shouted at like that has never left me, and I started to ask myself: ‘Have I stolen another bike? Or head-butted the wrong person?’

“When I entered, I found Capello with only a towel on. He’d had a shower. His glasses were steamed up and the ­dressing room was messy as usual. ‘Sit down,’ he said.

“In front of me there was an old TV with a video player and Capello put a tape in.”

This is the start of another excerpt from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s recently released autobiography, I, Zlatan. However, where the book has unsurprisingly taken the player’s grievances with certain former colleagues to expected higher levels of sensationalism, the recount of his experience with Capello is nothing but respectful.

Pertinently, for the attention the player’s book has garnered since its release and unofficial serialisation in the Press, Ibrahimovic has also chosen the month of November 2011 to draw attention back to the pitch for an equally significant career moment.

In surpassing a century of goals at the weekend with his double-strike against Chievo, Ibra has now entered the history books as one of Italy’s deadliest strikers. He becomes only the 72nd man to join an elite list of Serie A hit-men and only the 18th foreigner to do so. He is also only the fourth man ever to reach treble figures in Italy’s top flight for goals scored for the traditional giants Juventus, Inter and Milan. Averaging just over a goal every other game, Ibra is also currently more prolific than Silvio Piola, Jose Altafini, Francesco Totti, Roberto Baggio, whilst only 15 footballers with 100 or more Serie A goals have managed a better goal-to-game ratio than Ibra.

A sign of his contribution to consecutive League titles in Italy is best reflected by the fact that his 101 goals from 196 games have been scored against 27 different clubs and 49 different goalkeepers. Whilst he has his favourite clubs – Parma, Fiorentina and Palermo – Ibra has proven statistically to be a threat to any and all in Italy.

For the sensationalistic stories to have emanated from I, Zlatan, the book provides an interesting insight into just how he became such an effective striker. It stems back to the player’s experience at Juventus, and sees us pick up the second half of the excerpt started above.

“‘You remember Marco Van Basten... He moved better than you in the area. I have put his goals on here. Study the movements,’ said Capello.

“He left and I started to watch... After 10 minutes I started to ask myself when I could leave. Had Capello put someone outside to guard the door? It wasn’t impossible.

“Capello transformed me from someone who makes others play into someone who scores. ‘I am taking the Ajax out of you!’ he ­shouted. And he entrusted me to Italo Galbiati, his assistant, who made me shoot 100 times at goal alone.

“Then he made me put on weight and watch the tape of Van Basten’s goals.

“He didn’t want me to be out of the area much, he wanted me to be fixed."

Ibra is in the rare position of having arrived in Italy with a lower goal-to-game ratio than he has since managed to produce in the country. It is also most interesting that whilst one of his most unsuccessful periods as a footballer – his time in Spain – has drawn his most unsavoury comments, his least successful in front of goal in Italy was with the Coach he now cites as having the most influence on his future success.

Indeed, his time in Turin yielded just 23 goals from 70 League games, but there were glimpses of what was to come and of what he was picking up from Capello’s tutelage.

Two examples [video clips are below] are his instinctive lob against Livorno after wrestling off a defender and his goal against Roma that came after a mid-air heel control and 40-yard dash that was finished off with the outside of his foot. Both may have had elements of Ibra’s early expressionism, but the directness of his actions and his positioning on the last line of attack were Capello’s details.

Analysis of his goals can identify a number of patterns from the interesting – the high percentage of goals to come during the final third of matches – to the mundane – the player’s tendency to find the bottom right corner of the net with a similarly high majority. However, they also back up Capello’s teaching.

Ibra’s 100th goal – the first against Chievo – came from outside the area, but surprisingly it is only the 15th to do so. Most interesting, is that for a striker that is likely to be remembered for his back catalogue of similarly amazing strikes, a huge 86 of his goals have come from inside the area, and 63 of those between the posts.

As Zlatan remembers: “A little of Ajax has stayed with me – the quality. But even if I now play out of the area more and always look to do the kind of move that motivates me, the first thought I have is to score and to win. That’s Capello’s lesson.”

Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow