The Ukranian has fond memories of his year in Barcelona, where Pep Guardiola gave him the chance to be part of one of the best generations the club had ever posessed.
Of all his companions, it was Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic which surprised him the most for his competitive nature.
He did not want to lose at any point and sometimes it felt like it was him against the world.
Chygrynskiy said that Ibrahimovic once claimed: "If I'm the best in training, I come to the game feeling like a god."
He also said the Swede even scolded Andres Iniesta and Xavi in training.
"Hey you clowns, where are you passing the ball?" he questioned the two playmakers.
This is just a sample of how fearless Ibrahimovic was, challenging even the 'sacred cows' of the team.
"Ibrahimovic is amazing of course, his character saw him play tricks on the coach, but as a player and a team-mate for me he is the best," said Chygrynskiy.
The defender also spoke about Lionel Messi in a positive light.
"He has it all: skill, and speed, and assessment of the situation. If Ibra has some manic form to claim his leadership, he needs to declare it, Leo does not.
"He has mettle, he kind of shines from within. The people around see and understand it. But in everyday life, he gets kind of switched off. This can be explained by the incredible hype.
"For example, we come to the base, everyone has a locker in the changing room. There is always a big box near Messi’s locker every day: parcels, toys, his portraits, letters, sweets. He cannot go anywhere.
"Once, I accidentally had lunch with him, we were sitting together, he said: 'The situation is such that I do not pay anywhere in recent years for myself. Restaurants serve food to me for free, petrol stations fill it for free.'
"The hype is such that he switches off and looks for a quiet corner to live an ordinary, normal life. He buries his head into the shell, like a turtle.
"You can frequently watch him sorting out his phone or just sitting like that. The training is over - and he shuts up within himself, in his thoughts, he closes himself."
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق