Uttiyo Sarkar

Look: Drake fanboys over Zlatan Ibrahimovic in surprise crossover

AC Milan, Drake, Drake Curse, Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Multi-time Grammy award winner Drake probably needs no introduction to anyone with any clue of the pop culture of the current times.

The rapper is one of the most successful musicians of his generation, selling millions of platinum-label albums across his career.

Drake is also a big fan of football (called soccer from where he hails from) and he’s met with some of the most popular footballers in the world over the years.

He is a regular visitor to major football events and attends a lot of high-profile matches to meet up with the best footballers around.

Unfortunately, his association with football has also created ‘The Drake Curse’, which is a bizarre phenomenon to have been created.

This ‘curse’ is an occurrence that happens after the Canadian rapper meets up with footballers, only for them to lose the game the next game they play soon after.

Drake Curse in action

This started a few years ago. In the 2018-19 season, Manchester City’s early exit from the Champions League quarter-finals at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur was linked to the Drake Curse.

He had posed for a picture with their then-striker Sergio Aguero days before the game, and the Argentine missed a crucial penalty in the second leg.

Before Manchester United’s exit from the 2018/19 FA Cup quarter-finals, Paul Pogba had posed for a picture with Drake at a concert.

Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard were also present in it, which got fans to believe that the musician’s curse caused their misfortune.

Though, to his credit, the famous rapper hardly pays much attention to calls from football fans urging him to stop meeting footballers.

He recently caught up with AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is one of the most over-the-top characters in football.

Zlatan has struggled with injury issues in recent years but still stuck with Milan, playing the role of a play-cum-coach to help them win the Serie A last season.

Drake caught up with him at a hotel and posted the picture, with the caption ‘Zlaaatannnnnn’.

The snap itself is a pretty awkward, downright hilarious one. While the rapper appears to be deep into some conversation with the Swedish footballer, Zlatan appears to be a little bit freaked out to meet him. Maybe he’s a believer in the Drake curse as well!

Some fans were worried that this meeting would spell disaster for AC Milan and make them lose their first game of 2023 against Salernitana in Serie A.

Fortunately, with Zlatan still out of action with an injury, the Rossoneri went on to pick up a hard-fought win against Salernitana to continue their charge in the title race.