Zlatan Ibrahimovic marks his record-breaking Sweden return in style

The big Swede typically made a decisive impact on his return by contributing towards Sweden’s match-winning goal and breaking a record.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic became Sweden’s oldest player in history and marked the occasion in style by setting up the match-winning goal on Thursday night.

The 39-year-old made his comeback for Sweden in a World Cup qualifier against Georgia. He hadn’t played for the national team since Euro 2016, but took just over half an hour to make a decisive impact with a classy assist.

Zlatan chested down a ball inside the box and then neatly volleyed it across to Viktor Claesson to bundle the ball into the bottom left corner.

He's back… 🇸🇪

Zlatan Ibrahimovic setup Viktor Claesson's winning goal against Georgia with some delightful skill pic.twitter.com/WTwHwtIkKt

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 26, 2021

The AC Milan striker may not have been able to add to his record tally of 62 international goals, but his 18th assist was enough to bag Sweden a winning start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.

“I’m new to this playing system,” said Zlatan as quoted on The Guardian.

“That will come. We made a little too many simple mistakes. If we can reduce them, we can become more dangerous in the attacking game. It will get better.”

Aside from winning his 117th cap, Zlatan also surpassed Thomas Ravelli as the oldest footballer to represent Sweden.

Janne Andersson’s men next take a trip to Kosovo on Sunday for their next World Cup qualifier in Group B.

🇸🇪 Zlatan Ibrahimović (39 years and 173 days) surpasses Thomas Ravelli (38 years and 59 days) as the oldest player to represent Sweden 😮👏#WCQ pic.twitter.com/wSgJqCTh7m

— European Qualifiers (@EURO2020) March 25, 2021