“You have players who win trophies. You have players who get statues. Then you have players who get both trophies and statues.”

The words of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he attended the unveiling of a statue in his honour on Tuesday, in his home town of Malmo in Sweden.

Commissioned by the Swedish Football Association and standing at almost 3 metres tall, the statue was erected outside the stadium where Ibrahimovic’s professional career began two decades ago.

“With this statue, it will be a symbol for all the people out there who don’t feel welcome. Who doesn’t feel they fit in. Who doesn’t feel they look like everybody else, but that it is possible,” Ibrahimovic, a child of Balkan immigrants, added.