ZLATAN MUST STAY

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Paris St Germain defender Thiago Silva has said that Zlatan Ibrahimovic should reject any advances from Premier league outfit in Manchester City in the summer. The Swedish striker has long been a target for City manager Roberto Mancini. They tried to get him while he was at Inter Milan and failed to do so. They once again tried before he moved to PSG, but were unable to do so once again. However, Mancini is not reluctant to miss out on the Swedish striker, who is regarded as one of the best in the world. They are expected to make an offer in the summer as well.

However, Silva has said that Ibrahimovic should consider staying at PSG after helping them to almost win the league title this season. PSG are only a couple of points away from sealing their first league title in France, while they also made it into the quarter-finals of the Champions League – only to be defeated by Barcelona – this season. Silva and Ibrahimovic arrived at PSG at the same time. Ibrahimovic has scored 36 goals in just 43 matches for PSG this season. He is currently the top scorer in the French league. Ibrahimovic is the main target for Mancini in hopes of reclaiming the title from United.

“I hope Zlatan will stay at PSG. He can help the team and the club grow. I really want him to stay put. I have not yet had the opportunity to talk to him about whether he has already made a decision on his future. He’s a normal guy who always wants to win. He gets angry when things don’t go well. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it isn’t. I see him as a positive guy, though, who gives strength to the team,” said Silva.

SWEDEN CAN PROGRESS

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Buoyed by the recent success against England, Sweden manager Erik Hamren has said that he is confident that his team can secure victory against the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup qualifying match between the two nations. This will be the first World Cup qualifying match for Sweden since October. They have played against England and Argentina in friendly matches during this period. They managed a 4-2 win over England, but they could not repeat the feat against Argentina after losing narrowly 3-2 to the South American team. The match against Ireland will also be the only World Cup qualifying match until June.

Hence, Hamren has said that his team needs to get all three points from this home match in order to at least secure a play-off spot at the end of the campaign. Sweden have almost no chance of catching the latest Germany, who are way ahead at the top of the table. The likes of Austria and the Republic of Ireland are the realistic contenders for Sweden. However, the team could manage only a drab 0-0 draw in the home match. After the encounter, Hamren has said that he is disappointed having taken just one point from home match, but he is confident of success in Dublin when the two teams meet in September.

“Of course we are disappointed with one point at home but, if we win away, we are OK. We tried to win here but couldn’t today. Then we have a bigger task when we come there but it’s possible. It’s possible to win in Ireland too. One question can be that we still aren’t an experienced team. If you see the team today, four or five have only played one qualification game before so some of the players do not have this experience,” said Hamren.