ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC showed his softer side as he reminisced with terminally-ill friend Thijs Slegers.
Popular former journalist Slegers, 46, met Zlatan during the Swede's days playing in the Eredivisie with Ajax as a youngster.
The pair quickly hit it off, with Ibra even crediting Slegers in his autobiography.
Having previously worked for Dutch media outlets, Slegers took up a new role as role as press officer at PSV Eindhoven in 2015.
He was tragically diagnosed with acute leukaemia in October 2020, and announced the heartbreaking news last week that his illness is terminal.
Slegers appeared on an ESPN broadcast in the Netherlands yesterday, with a number of his pals from the football industry sharing their stories from down the years.
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One of these pals was football legend Ibrahimovic.
Asked if he remembered the first time he met Slegers, the emotional 41-year-old said: "If I remember? I will always remember.
"He was the only friend I had from Holland. I was lost, I was young, I was confused.
"I really didn't have anybody in Holland. I had this journalist that reached out to me and in that time, the journalists, they were not my friends. They were the opposite, enemies.
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"And he reached out and we met for a dinner, lunch let's say and from there we became really good friends.
"We played tennis, we met, he helped me a lot. He gave me all the support I needed and that was a first step in my career.
"I even wrote about Thijs in my book, I was very thankful for everything and we still keep in contact and he went straight in my heart from that moment."
As both men welled up with tears, Zlatan finished: "Thijs, I only want to say that I love you my friend."
During the programme, Slegers appealed to viewers to become stem cell or blood donors.
And this morning ESPN confirmed that nearly 10,000 people had signed up to do so thanks to Slegers' brave appeal.
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