TORONTO — Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a memorable career goal No. 500, signed a fan's forehead and then left town with a parting shot after a 5-3 loss to Toronto FC.
"I'm happy for Toronto because they will be remembered as my 500th victim," the Los Angeles Galaxy star said.
The stylish Swede then tweeted a photo of himself, holding a hammer with a soccer-shaped head and the words "Zlatan, God of Goals."
Zlatan comes as advertised — larger than life.
No stranger to highlight-reel strikes, Ibrahimovic added another beauty to his collection Saturday.
With the Galaxy down 3-0, Jonathan dos Santos chipped the ball into the box in the 43rd minute. With Ibrahimovic flanked by defenders Michael Bradley and Nick Hagglund, it did not seem like much.
But the six-foot-five Ibrahimovic got a yard clear of his security detail. And then the magic started.
His back to the goal, Ibrahimovic twirled toward the net to get an angle at the ball, flicking his right leg up high to deflect the ball off the post and past stunned goalkeeper Alex Bono for his 17th goal of the season.
When it struck the ball, his foot was at about the height of the six-foot-two Bradley's head.
"I have never seen a full-volley out of the air, roundhouse kick golazo. Thank you Zlatan," tweeted Dax McCarty of the Chicago Fire.
"Wow," "unreal" and "ridiculous" were some of the other social media reactions.
"A typical Zalatan goal," said Toronto midfielder Jonathan Osorio, whose 75th-minute goal proved to be the winner. "I think the crowd gave him an ovation. It was a great goal, don't get me wrong, but I think they were a little bit quick to give him an ovation. It was like they wanted him to score. I didn't like that. But give credit where credit's due."
After scoring, an expressionless Ibrahimovic jogged away from the goal, shaking hands with teammates. The BMO Field crowd of 30,799 rewarded him with a standing ovation.
"Instinct," Ibrahimovic said later of the acrobatic goal. "I mean those things you don't plan. It's impossible to plan. The way it came, I just tried to get it on goal."
"I'm just happy for the Toronto fans that they got to see something they hadn't seen before," he added in typical Zlatan fashion.
Said Toronto coach Greg Vanney: "The finish was something that he can do and I'm not sure how many people, especially his size, can do that."
As Didier Drogba did with Montreal in 2015, Zlatan has taken MLS by storm with big goals and big words. While the slumping Galaxy (10-11-8) are six points out of the playoff picture, Ibrahimovic has done his part with 17 goals and eight assists in 22 games
The Galaxy star, who came into the game tied for second in MLS scoring, joins Barcelona's Lionel Messi (648) and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo (658) as the only active players with 500 goals for club and country.
Sixty-two of Ibrahimovic's goals have come for Sweden. The rest came in the colours of Malmo FF (18), Ajax (48), Juventus (26), Inter Milan (66), Barcelona (22), AC Milan (56), Paris Saint-Germain (156), Manchester United (29) and the Galaxy (17).
He said he had scored a similar goal for Ajax, "but I think this one was more beautiful."
"This one was nice. I don't want to be too positive because I lost the game and I hate to lose. But it was a nice goal. I didn't check yet the video, but I got a lot of messages that were saying, 'I'm totally crazy.' So it means I did something crazy."
He is doing it at a bargain price in the Gucci world of soccer. His salary is listed at US$1.5 million this season.
Ibrahimovic was missing in action for large chunks of the game, doing little to press Toronto players on the ball although he returned to defend set pieces. But when the ball came down the other end, the Swede ghosted in and out of the defence — and then with his inspired boot triggered a Galaxy comeback that just fell short.
"That was a pretty unique finish," said Bono, who forever becomes the answer to a Zlatan trivia question. "I've never had a goal scored on me like that before."
Asked what he thought at the time of the goal, Vanney was ever the coach, replying dryly: "We need to get pressure on the ball in midfield."
Ibrahimovic had a run-in with Bradley later in the game after the Toronto skipper seemingly demanded that the referee take action on another Galaxy player.
"I think he's the philosopher of football," Ibrahimovic said with a smirk. "I have more goals than he has games. He should follow my rules."
Bradley downplayed the incident.
"I'm not worried about Zlatan, I'm worried about three points," he said. "We'll take out three points tonight."
The 36-year-old Ibrahimovic has had a good week. He learned he is the top-rated MLS player in the new FIFA 19 video game, ahead of New York City FC's David Villa and Toronto's Sebastian Giovinco.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
