The Statue Of Ibrahimovic, Who Returned To Be The Target Of Malmo Fans

JAKARTA - The statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Sweden has been vandalized again. On the feet, there are saw blades scratches. The police then built a fence around it to prevent further damage.

The statue of Ibrahimovic outside the Malmo stadium was set on fire last month in an apparent reaction to the former LA Galaxy striker who owns part of the shares of rival club Hammarby.

The 38-year-old started his career at Malmo and is Sweden's top scorer with 62 in 116 games. He was honored with a statue in October, but was later vandalized by several after he took a nearly 25 percent stake in Stockholm club Hammarby.

A Malmo police spokesman told the BBC that vandals had placed a rope around the statue's neck in the early hours of Thursday 12 December and tried to saw off its leg.

"There is a risk now (the statue) could fall and we have placed a fence around it," the spokesman said. Launching MailSport, Friday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's statue in Malmo is at risk of collapse after being attacked with a SAW as police step in to protect his bronze sculpture https://t.co/l1Zw8gWkLJ

- MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) December 12, 2019

Malmo supporters have started an online petition to remove the statue. Meanwhile Kaveh Hosseinpour, deputy chairman of the club's official support group, said after the first attack, Ibrahimovic was a traitor.

"He basically betrayed us, and then he came with swords and beheaded us," said Hosseinpour.

The statue, he continued, was completely worthless now and was just a piece of trash. The best way to solve that problem is to uninstall it and place it somewhere in Stockholm.

"Every game we have, we will pass Zlatan and know that there is a statue of an investor in Hammarby, not a statue of football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic anymore."

Kaveh Hosseinpour

The former Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player is currently on a free transfer after leaving the LA Galaxy, which he defended for two seasons.

During his time in MLS, he scored 52 goals and provided more than 17 assists in 53 early games for the Galaxy and won the MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2018 and was twice selected for the MLS Best XI.

Ibrahimovic made $ 7.2 million in revenue last season, according to the MLS players' salary database. He made 1.5 million US dollars in 2018.