Celtic star Carl Starfelt's great news is eclipsed by incredible Zlatan Ibrahimovic story

By Hamish Carton

March 16, 2023

Celtic defender Carl Starfelt is back in the Sweden international squad, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic still made all of the headlines.

Starfelt has been included in Janne Andersson’s squad for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against Belgium and Azerbaijan this month.

It’s the first time the Celtic defender has been chosen by his country since May of last year.

Back during that international break, after being given his first competitive start, he limped off after picking up an injury.

The injury mean that Starfelt missed the start of this season for Celtic, and along with another issue, it effectively kept him out until after the World Cup.

His arrival back into the Sweden fold is a reward for his terrific form alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers at the heart of the Celtic defence.

The news is likely to be a big boost for Starfelt and he will jet off after our game against Hibernian this Saturday.

But he hasn’t been the main Swedish addition making headlines after the announcement.

The big story is that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in the reckoning to play for his country, at the age of 41, a year on from his last cap.

The BBC are one of the many outlets to cover this incredible story. It’s little wonder given the reputation of Ibrahimovic and the fact that he is still being selected for his country at such an age.

The AC Milan forward already has 121 caps for his country, and previously retired back in 2016.

So Starfelt can go under the radar for Sweden. It would be great to see him get some game time too.

But the most important thing is that he comes back fit and ready to go for the run-in.

In other news, the scheduling of the final derby of the season could be interesting