A WINNER IS BORN

DECIDED THE CUP FINAL AND WON THE LEAGUE

WHAT HAPPENED 2001/02?

Knowing what extraordinary things he has done since, there is no point claiming his first season in Ajax was a super-success but even though he didn't score as much as the fans expected, he did decide the Dutch Cup-final and ended up winning the double.

Being Ajax's most expensive signing of all time, the pressure was high on the new number #9. His arrival was highly covered and the Ajax fans expected great things direct from the start. Zlatan's appreciated ability to talk himself up probably didn't lower the expectations and when showing the whole world the flip flap/Zlatan-feint against Liverpool, we were not the only ones following the tall Swede's future adventures in Holland.

 

STARTED WELL 

It started great with one goal and one assist in the 2-1-win in only the second league-game away against rivals Feyenoord. The game after he repeated the success with 1+1 in another away-win, this time against Twente (2-0). After then scoring in two straight UEFA Cup-wins it already seemed like he was going towards an amazing season individually.

 

STRUGGLING BUT WINNING 

The great start made him a regular in the starting 11 for 7 straight league games sep-nov but unfortunately the scoring-streak didn't continue. The team kept winning and a couple of assists made the debut season feel ok or at least not horrible, but even though he scored three goals the first two games for new manager Ronald Koeman (who took over 29 November), he then experienced the perhaps toughest time in his career over the winter with time outside the starting 11 and only a couple of goals over several months.

 

GREAT END TO THE SEASON 

Well, if the winter and early spring was tough, april/may felt better. In a great game away against Sparta in april, he was subbed in the 63rd minute, scored once and had two fine assists which sealed the game and helped Ajax win the league (TROPHY 1). Less than a month later it was time for the Dutch Cup Final, and again it was time for some Zlatan-super-subbing. Coming on in the 79th minute, the game went on to golden goal extra time and only 5 minutes in, Ibracadabra scored and gave Ajax the title (TROPHY 2).

So even though he perhaps didn't score as much as he should have (and expected himself), what the Ajax-fans went home with was the double with Z deciding the season's very last game.

FACTS.


• DEBUT:

8 August 2001, vs Celtic (CL-qual).


• FIRST GOAL:

26 August 2001, vs Feyenoord (league).


• GAMES SCORING 2 OR MORE GOALS:

1.

• ALL ZLATAN'S GAMES 2001/02:

33 games: 22 wins, 7 draws, 4 losses.


• WHEN ZLATAN WAS IN THE STARTING 11:

17 games: 13 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses.


• WHEN ZLATAN WAS BROUGHT ON:

16 games: 9 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses.


• WHEN ZLATAN SCORED:

8 games, 7 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses.


• WHEN ZLATAN DIDN'T SCORE:

25 games, 15 wins, 6 draws, 4 losses.


• NAME ON SHIRT:

When joining Ajax, he chose to use "Zlatan" on the back of his shirt, he changed to "Ibrahimović" later on.

Eredivisie: WINNER

Dutch Cup: WINNER

Champions League Qual: Round 3

UEFA Cup: Round 2

Eredivisie 2001/02

 
G
W
D
L
GF
GA
P
1. Ajax
34
22
7
5
73
34
73
2. PSV
34
20
8
6
77
32
68
3. Feyenoord
34
19
7
8
68
29
64
4. Heerenveen
34
17
9
8
57
27
60

"I took it down on my chest, I was really pressured, but I could fire a shot with my left, not a good shot, not at all. The ball bounced on the grass. But oh my God, it was well put and it went in and I took my shirt of and rushed out to the left, all crazy with happiness and skinny as hell. You could see my ribs. It had been a rough year. There had been one hell of a pressure and my game wasn't good during long periods of time. But now I was back. I had made it. I had showed them all, and the whole arena was crazy. It really vibrated of happiness, and I especially remember Koeman, he ran towards me and shouted in my ear: "Thank you very much! Thank you very much"
It was such a joy, it can't be explained, I just ran around there with the team and just felt how every tension let go."

- from "I AM ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIĆ"

VIDEO 2001/02 - TOP 3

1. GOAL

7,8

AJAX 2001/02

vs Sparta

2002.04.14

2. GOAL

7,7

AJAX 2001/02

vs Utrecht

2002.05.12

3. GOAL

7,5

AJAX 2001/02

vs Fortuna Sittard

2001.12.04

VIDEO 2001/02 - PLAYLISTS

PLAYLIST | EREDIVISIE 2001/02

PLAYLIST | DUTCH CUP 2001/02

PLAYLIST | UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE qual. 2001/02

UEFA are continously removing Champions League-videos from the internet. The Dailymotion UEFA Champions League-playlist is meant to complete the Youtube UEFA Champions League-playlist. So all Zlatan's goals/assists should be in either one of them. If you notice a video being removed from youtube or unavailable, it would be much appreciated if you report it to contact@zlatanibrahimovic.com. Thank you in advance.

TEAMMATES 2001/02

Coach(es): KOEMAN | ADRIAANSE

Goalkeepers: GRIM | STEKELENBURG | DIDULICA

Attackers: YAKUBU | MACHLAS | MIDO | IKEDIA

Co Adriaanse was manager until 29 November 2001, when Ronald Koeman took over. The let go of Adriaanse is the ONLY in season- termination of any of Zlatan's coaches from 2001 up until today.

TEAM TROPHIES 2001/02

2 TROPHIES

EREDIVISIE

DUTCH LEAGUE

2001/02

KNVB CUP

DUTCH CUP

2001/02

ZTATISTICS 2001/02

 
 
 
 
Start
Sub In
Sub Out
Goals
Assists
Yellow
Yel/Red
Red
Min

Eredivisie Dutch League

12

12

7

6

5

2

1285'

KNVB Dutch Cup

2

1

2

1

 

153'

UEFA Champions League Qual.

2

 

 

70'

UEFA Cup

3

1

2

2

 

272'

 

 

17

16

11

 

 

2

 

 

1780'
     

33

  

9

5

      

 
 
GOALS - WHEN?

1-15
16-30
31-45
46-60
61-75
75-90+

Eredivisie Dutch League

1

4

1

KNVB Dutch Cup

1

UEFA Champions League Qual.

UEFA Cup

1

1

 

 

1

1

 

 

5

2
 
GOALS - HOW?
Right
Left
Header
Penalty
Freekick

Eredivisie Dutch League

5

1

KNVB Dutch Cup

1

UEFA Champions League Qual.

UEFA Cup

1

1

 

6

2

1

 

 

GAMES 2001/02

 

DUTCH LEAGUE

          
 
 
 
          
Start
Sub In
Sub Out
Goals
Assists
Yellow
Yel/Red
Red
Min

2001.08.19

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

1-1

Roda

 

83'

 

 

 

 

 

 

8'

2001.08.26

Eredivisie Dutch League
Feyenoord

1-2

Ajax

 

60'

 

1

1

 

 

 

31'

2001.09.08

Eredivisie Dutch League
Twente

0-2

Ajax

 

 

1

1

 

 

 

90'

2001.09.16

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

1-0

AZ Alkmaar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

90'

2001.09.23

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

3-0

Sparta Rotterdam

 

58'

 

 

 

 

 

57'

2001.09.30

Eredivisie Dutch League
Groningen

1-4

Ajax

 

83'

 

 

 

 

 

82'

2001.10.10

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

5-0

NEC Nijmegen

 

74'

 

 

 

 

 

73'

2001.11.25

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

1-3

PSV Eindhoven

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

90'

2001.11.28

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

3-2

Twente

 

73'

 

 

 

 

 

72'

2001.12.04

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

4-0

Fortuna Sittard

 

46'

 

2

 

 

 

 

45'

2001.12.15

Eredivisie Dutch League
Roda

1-1

Ajax

 

 

1

 

 

 

90'

2001.12.19

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

5-1

Vitesse

 

62'

 

 

 

 

 

 

29'

2001.12.23

Eredivisie Dutch League
Utrecht

3-1

Ajax

 

73'

 

 

 

 

 

 

18'

2002.01.27

Eredivisie Dutch League
Den Bosch

0-1

Ajax

 

76'

 

1

 

 

 

75'

2002.02.03

Eredivisie Dutch League
Willem II

1-3

Ajax

 

71'

 

 

 

 

 

70'

2002.02.17

Eredivisie Dutch League
AZ Alkmaar

0-0

Ajax

 

77'

 

 

 

 

 

 

14'

2002.02.24

Eredivisie Dutch League
NAC Breda

0-1

Ajax

 

 

 

 

83'

 

 

90'

2002.02.27

Eredivisie Dutch League
Fortuna Sittard

1-1

Ajax

 

71'

 

 

 

 

 

 

20'

2002.03.03

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

1-1

Feyenoord

 

66'

 

 

 

 

 

 

25'

2002.03.24

Eredivisie Dutch League
PSV Eindhoven

1-1

Ajax

 

46'

 

 

 

 

 

 

45'

2002.04.03

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

4-3

Groningen

 

55'

 

 

 

 

 

54'

2002.04.14

Eredivisie Dutch League
Sparta Rotterdam

0-4

Ajax

 

63'

 

1

2

 

 

 

28'

2002.04.21

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

1-0

Utrecht

 

61'

 

 

 

 

 

 

30'

2002.04.28

Eredivisie Dutch League
Ajax

2-0

Den Bosch

 

32'

 

 

 

 

 

 

59'

 

12

12

7

6

5

2

 

 

1285'
 

DUTCH CUP

          
 
 
 
          
Start
Sub In
Sub Out
Goals
Assists
Yellow
Yel/Red
Red
Min

2001.12.12

KNVB Dutch Cup Round of 16
Ajax

4-3

RBC Roosendaal

 

67'

 

 

 

 

 

66'

2002.02.07

KNVB Dutch Cup Quarterfinal
Ajax

4-0

Groningen

 

45'

 

 

 

 

 

45'

2002.05.12

KNVB Dutch Cup Final
Utrecht

2-3

Ajax

 

79'

 

1

 

 

 

 

42'

 

2

1

2

1

 

 

 

 

153'
 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUAL.

 

        
 
 
 
          
Start
Sub In
Sub Out
Goals
Assists
Yellow
Yel/Red
Red
Min

2001.08.08

UEFA Champions League Qual. R3 1:2
Ajax

1-3

Celtic

 

46'

 

 

 

 

 

 

45'

2001.08.22

UEFA Champions League Qual. R3 2:2
Celtic

0-1

Ajax

 

66'

 

 

 

 

 

 

25'

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

70'
 

UEFA CUP

          
 
 
 
          
Start
Sub In
Sub Out
Goals
Assists
Yellow
Yel/Red
Red
Min

2001.09.20

UEFA Cup Round 1 1:2
Ajax

2-0

Apollon

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

90'

2001.09.27

UEFA Cup Round 1 2:2
Apollon

0-3

Ajax

 

28'

 

1

 

 

 

 

63'

2001.10.18

UEFA Cup Round 2 1:2
Copenhagen

0-0

Ajax

 

75'

 

 

 

 

 

74'

2001.11.01

UEFA Cup Round 2 2:2
Ajax

0-1

Copenhagen

 

46'

 

 

 

 

 

45'

 

3

1

2

2

 

 

 

 

272'