Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave one-word answers. Asked in turn who takes La Liga, who takes the Champions League and who wins the Ballon d’Or, the Swede replied “Barcelona”, “Barcelona” and “Lamine Yamal”.
He added Manchester City for the Premier League, with the caveat that any points deductions this season could change that. Ibrahimovic was not asked to explain any of his picks.
Yamal, one place short in Paris
The Ballon d’Or shout is not a wild one. Lamine Yamal finished second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or in September, behind Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé, and at 18 collected the Kopa Trophy for a second straight year. He starts the next awards cycle as Hansi Flick’s main creative threat.
The investigation that could swallow the pick
The complication for the Barcelona bet sits with UEFA. The governing body confirmed on 2 October that its Ethics and Disciplinary Inspectors are reviewing fresh material filed by Real Madrid on the Negreira case, the long-running probe into €7.4m paid between 2001 and 2018 by Barcelona to companies linked to a former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee.
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Barcelona insist no new proceedings have been opened and that the original 2023 file was never closed. A severe sanction, if it ever comes, could reach as far as expulsion from the Champions League, the trophy Ibrahimovic has just tipped them for.
City champions, verdict first
Manchester City carry their own problem into Ibrahimovic’s prediction. An independent commission found the club guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League charges, ruling that income had been overstated by more than £830m through sham commercial deals.
The Premier League statement said the commission had found City guilty of “all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a 9-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation”.
Sanctions have not been handed down and the club is appealing. Punishments under the rulebook run from a fine to a points deduction to expulsion.
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