Zlatan or Ronaldo - Who will be missed more in Brazil?

Tonight’s game in Lisbon will go a long way towards deciding whether Sweden or Portugal go through to the World Cup next year. All eyes will be on the two men who will be leading their respective side’s in attack, Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sweden and Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal. Both players have had a scintillating start to their season and both of them warmed up for the game, with a hat-trick in their previous encounter.

The focus will be on both these players to perform at their peak, in order to ensure that their side goes through to the World Cup and on their current form, you wouldn’t bet against them doing just that. Coming into the game, Ronaldo has scored nine goals in his last four games, whilst Ibrahimovic has 10 in five games. This means that the match promises to be a cracker. But the fact is that only one of them can go through and there is no doubt in the fact that the World Cup will be poorer without the presence of either one of these two men, who have been two of Europe’s most potent attackers so far this season.

But, in football, just like in life, you don’t always get what you want and whether you want to blame it on Blatter or just bad luck, the fact that only one of them can make it through to Brazil is just something that football fans just have to live with. So, that begs the question, who will be missed more in Brazil? Will it be the Portuguese wing wizard or will it be the Swedish hit man? That is certainly the question on everybody’s lips right now.

On the face of it, judging by just statistics, it is obvious that Cristiano Ronaldo will be the one that will be missed more. Whether it is because of the fact that he has scored at least 50 goals in each of his past three seasons or the fact that he is almost half way towards that mark barely a few months into the current campaign, Ronaldo, ever since his move to Real Madrid has transformed into a goal scoring phenomenon and one that will be sorely missed on the biggest stage of them all. But, it is not just his goals that would be missed. The fact that, on his own, he almost dragged Portugal through to the final of Euro 2012 and would relish the prospect of doing the same, if not going one better in the World Cup.

Ibrahimovic on other hand is no slouch either, having managed 35 goals and at least 10 assists in each of his past two seasons and Sweden will be hoping that their inspirational skipper can lead them to yet another World Cup. Ibrahimovic is one player who makes the extraordinary look very ordinary indeed and his sublime touches and his breath taking goals are sure to be missed, if Sweden doesn’t make it through to Brazil.

But, the one thing that is in Ibrahimovic’s favor is his age and the fact that he might not be around by the time the next World Cup comes. Even if Ronaldo misses out, he still has a shot at another World Cup, and approaching the end of his peak, Ibrahimovic might not be so lucky. And that is perhaps why; it is the Swede who will be missed more, if Sweden doesn’t make it through to Brazil.