Gossip on the Guys: Zlatan's Barca Life

It's been like two days since the international break kicked off, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has wasted no time in going and getting his hair cut. Normally we really don't like it when players spring new haircuts on us, because more often than not they are horrific (think Pique). But, we are quite liking this look on Zla. The longer hair he was sporting before was just stringy, scraggly and altogether boring - the shorter hair has more character.

But we're not here to talk about what Zlatan is doing while on the national team, today our focus is his life on Barca. Catalan paper Sport have published an interesting new article on how our Swede is adapting on the team...

- Zlatan has become great buddies with El Capitan, Carles Puyol, who is his advisor of sorts on all things Barca. In the dressing room at Camp Nou, Zla chose the locker formerly occupied by Sylvinho, seeing it's situated right next to Puyol's; instead of taking Eto'o's old one.

- Pep Guardiola is also doing his share to look after Zlatan as he adapts to the team, and takes care to exchange a few words and ask him how he is every morning as training, speaking in Italian, a language both of them are comfortable with. The rest of the players however take to addressing Zla in Spanish, and he's beginning to pick up on a few words and phrases.

- We've seen how Zlatan's been bonding with Leo Messi on the pitch; and they get along just as well off of it. At mealtimes they always share a table, along with Maxwell, Dani and Marquez. As for the rest of the team, the younger lads usually share a table together, with the more veteran players on another; and a fourth group is made up of the French-speakers on the team.

- Zla has yet to find himself a home in Barcelona. He's currently staying in a hotel with Maxwell, who is a very close friend of his; and during their first weeks at Barca in particular, the two did almost everything together.

- He isn't usually the first onto the field, but he's always the last one to leave the stadium, prone to spending over a quarter hour in front of a mirror scrutinizing his appearance. And, since joining Barca, he's added yet another tattoo to the eleven he showed up here with: a transparent ink tattoo on the navel, which can only be viewed with a certain artificial light. Which we are finding pretty wierd.

- Zlatan is one of the few players on the team who isn't a picky eater at all, and has no problem following the specific diet inflicted on the Barca boys. He isn't a fan of post-match or post-training massages either, but prefers sauna rooms and the like. He doesn't occupy himself with iPods or any form of electronics during match day; preferring to just relax and stay focused.