Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s MLS debut was such a big deal league-wide that after boarding their flight from Toronto to Salt Lake City, several Real Salt Lake players huddled around one phone to watch him score his first goal before takeoff. Now, the Galaxy are 2-5-1 in the past six weeks and Ibrahimovic has scored just two goals in that timespan.
“Zlatan is an incredible player. World-class,” said Petke, whose team faces the Galaxy Saturday night at the Home Depot Center. “I’ve had experiences with players like that, [Thierry] Henry to name one. I could tell you that I think that sometimes it’s difficult for a team to adjust in the short term, as soon as they get here, to the personality of Ibrahimovic, the level of him, his aura, all that put together.