"Ibrahimovic ended my England career in 10 minutes"

In an interview with The Telegraph, Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross spoke about his brief career as an England player. “I’m the butt of plenty of jokes in my family, because the 10 minutes I played as an international were ruined by one man.”

That man was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The match was Sweden against England. Shawcross had received his first call-up for the national team and was on the bench at the start of the match. Sweden were losing 2-1, Ibrahimovic finding the net and Danny Welbeck and Steven Caulker replying for England. With 16 minutes to go, Roy Hodgson sent on Shawcross to play out a game that appeared to be won. Then, Ibrahimovic erupted, scoring three more including a glorious overhead kick from 30 yards out. Shawcross was never recalled to the England side.

“My family are always saying that Zlatan ruined my career. I had an opportunity and I don’t think many other defenders would have stopped him either. I was given 10 minutes to show what I could do and I probably didn’t do that very well. It was against one of the best strikers in the world, who was in great form at that moment.”