Unveiled in October this year, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s statue in his hometown, Malmo was vandalized for the second time on Sunday.
A month after the statue was unveiled in front of thousands of fans outside the stadium of Malmo FF, the former LA Galaxy striker announced his stakes in Hammarby IF – a rival team to Malmo. Since then, the statue has been vandalized several times by the local fans.
In November, the fans tied a rope across the neck of the statue and word ‘Judas’ was written on the front door of his house in Stockholm. The recent incident though took place on Sunday night as the nose was cut off from the figure.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic statue in Malmo vandalised with nose sawed off, cracked foot and toe missing. Ibrahimovic used to be a popular figure at Swedish side Malmo. His relationship with fans has been damaged as a result of his investment in Malmo's rivals, Hammarby. pic.twitter.com/xKzEmCgfn0
— Lilian Chan (@bestgug) December 22, 2019
Earlier, the angry fans had poured paint over the figurine, while a foot was taken off as well. Police, meanwhile, are aware of the incident and said necessary actions will be taken.
“We have not received any reports but have been informed that damage has been seen by the public. We will go out there and make observations this morning,” Katarina Rusin, a press spokesperson for the police in the southern Sweden region, told SVT.
Fans, on their part, haven’t really taken the fact that their local lad invested in a rival club well.
"He's lost to Malmö, the relationship is over," Kaveh Hosseinpour, vice-president of the Malmö FF supporter club, told AFP.
As far as Ibrahimovic is concerned, he is yet to speak a word over the incident and has only said he "didn't see it" when asked about it.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Johan Nilsson
