Former Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini has claimed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic deserves to be regarded as highly as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi and Ronaldo are widely regarded as the two best players of their generation and two of the greatest of all time, having won 11 of the last 12 Ballons d'Or between them and scored a combined 1,422 senior goals.
Ibrahimovic has netted 540 goals during his own illustrious career, though, and Mancini, who managed the Swedish international for two years at Inter, believes that he is one of the greatest strikers to have ever played the game.
"Zlatan will be remembered as one of the greatest forwards of all time," Mancini told Sport Mediaset.
"I put him on the same level as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He won the league title wherever he went, scoring a ton of goals. He's done well at Milan too, this season, but I don't know what his plans are for the future."
Ibrahimovic, who now plays for AC Milan, has won 33 different trophies during his career, including 13 league titles in four different countries.
Barney Corkhill
