Zlatan Ibrahimovic bolstered a remarkable personal record by inspiring Manchester United to win the League Cup in Sunday’s final against Southampton.

The 35-year-old striker has lifted silverware in every season since his first year at Ajax during the 2001/02 campaign, in a streak which now stretches back 15 years.

Ibrahimovic had already tasted success at Wembley this season having scored the winning goal in August’s Community Shield victory over Premier League champions Leicester City.

His brace on Sunday, which included a decisive 87th-minute header, secured him the 32nd winner’s medal of his long and illustrious career.

Ibrahimovic first tasted success after breaking into Ronald Koeman’s double-winning Ajax side.

Only the Johan Cruyff Cup, the Netherlands’ equivalent to the Community Shield, followed the next season, but another Eredivise title came in 2004 before his move to Juventus.



Ibrahimovic’s two Serie A titles won at the Stadio delle Alpi are disputable, since both were revoked following the Calciopoli scandal. The Swede then won the three subsequent Scudettos at Internazionale, in Italian football’s much-changed envioronment.

His time at Barcelona was short but silverware-filled, with La Liga, Supercopa de Espana, Super Cup and Club World Cup titles to his name. Another Scudetto followed at Milan, as well as the following season’s Supercoppa.

Paris Saint-Germain’s dominance of French football helped him claim 12 more honours, with this season’s ‘double’ at Manchester United bringing his total to 32.

Ibrahimovic's United contract expires this summer but contains the option of a one-year extension, and his manager, Jose Mourinho, is confident that his striker will stay at Old Trafford.

“We all believe he will stay one more season… He one time left me because he wanted to go to Barcelona [from Internazionale in 2009],” he said.