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19th May 2016

Zlatan Ibrahimovic nicknamed new German team-mate ‘Adolf’

An unusual sense of humour

Simon Lloyd

Judging by this, Zlatan Ibrahimovic almost certainly won’t be embarking on a career in comedy when he eventually hangs up his boots.

The Swede is due to play his final game for Paris Saint-Germain this weekend, against Marseille in the French Cup final, before heading to a new club in the summer.

As he prepares for his final game for PSG, it’s emerged that Zlatan nicknamed German goalkeeper “Adolf” shortly after he arrived at the club.

A brand new book, written by L’Équipe journalist Damien Degorre, claims that the 34-year-old jokingly named Trapp after one of the most evil men to have ever lived in an attempt to make his friend Salvatore Sirigu – the man who Trapp replaced between the PSG sticks – feel better about losing his place.

The following extract of the book has been revealed in the French press:

‘Trapp is German, and upon his arrival at PSG, Ibra gave him a little nickname: Adolf. When Zlatan estimates something to be a good joke, once his comic repetition gets underway, a bit like as in the penalty area, nobody can stop him. So with that, the new PSG goalkeeper was called Adolf here, and Adolf there.

‘Never short in terms of improvisation, the PSG star then gave the German a little song. It should not necessarily be seen as malicious on the part of the Swede, but instead as a lack of education or perhaps a desire to please Salvatore, who had subsequently been dropped to the bench.’