Half-past three, Saturday afternoon in a south Stockholm bar on Folkungagatan — the street of the People’s King. Fans sporting green colours are sipping Kennedy beer while watching Cagliari versus Milan in Serie A. The bar is busy, but the atmosphere is sedate.



Suddenly there are a few oohs.



Milan have just hit the post with a header. The screen fills with the face of the player involved. Everyone knows his name, the would-be people’s king.



In the bar there are knowing looks, quiet smiles. This is Hammarby-land and Hammarby IF is the Stockholm club Zlatan Ibrahimovic stunned Sweden and football by buying into in late November.



That was considerably less predictable than Ibrahimovic hitting a post, even at 38. A few minutes later he scores, the first goal since returning to Italy from LA Galaxy a fortnight ago. Zlatan is back, says his statuesque celebration.



The punters’ murmurs of approval are a...