Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku are set to face off for their national team sides as Sweden host Belgium in the first round of Euro 2024 Group F qualifying fixtures on Friday evening.
The Milan and Inter centre-forwards are the all-time leading goal scorers for their respective nations, with Ibrahimovic on 62 goals for Sweden and Lukaku on 68 for Belgium.
787 days have passed since the two giants of Serie A last lined up against each other in the Coppa Italia quarter-final of the 2020-2021 season.
Ibrahimovic opened the scoring on that occasion back in January, 2021, before being dismissed for a second bookable offence two minutes hy of an hour.
Lukaku found the equaliser after 71 minutes, before a dramatic 97th minute winner from Christian Erikssen secured Inter’s place in the cup semi-final.
So much has changed in the two years since Ibrahimovic and Lukaku last lined up against each other.
The aforementioned Coppa Italia quarter-final was played behind closed doors as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to cause widespread disruption to the footballing calendar.
Ibrahimovic has undergone major reconstructive knee surgery since then, turned 41 and came back to recently become the oldest ever goalscorer in the history of Serie A.
Lukaku meanwhile left Inter for Chelsea with a record-breaking transfer fee, before returning to San Siro on a temporary basis in the summer of 2022.
Both have lifted the Scudetto in the period since the last time the two centre-forwards played each other.
This evening’s game will be the latest chapter in the seemingly endless saga of Ibrahimovic and Lukaku’s careers, who between them have netted an astonishing 902 career goals for club and country.
Kick off at the Friends Arena in Stockholm is at 19.45 GMT on Friday evening.