To many soccer fans an international break this early into the European season is unwelcome. Some might even regard it as boring coming so soon after the pantomime of transfer deadline day.

However, there's one man who can always be relied upon to brighten the darkest of times and he did it again on Thursday night.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace against Estonia in a friendly in Stockholm to make him Sweden's record ever scorer on 50 goals from 99 games.

Zlatan overtook Sven Rydell's 82-year-old record with his strikes and they were scored in typically nonchalant fashion. The most remarkable of which was the record-equaling backheel he bagged in the 24th minute.

That goal meant that Zlatan has now scored in every single minute of a soccer match, from the first to the 90th, over the course of his career. Put simply, there is no point during a match where it's safe for a defender to take his eye off the Swede.

This is a truly astounding record, especially when you consider that Zlatan has played for some of the biggest clubs in Europe and on the world's greatest stages. When the great Romario's claim to have scored over 1,000 goals is ridiculed because the Brazilian seems to count training games in his tally, something is verifiable as Zlatan's feat is to be celebrated.

There's only one other man who has that accolade at the very highest level. Cristiano Ronaldo, a player who seems born to shatter scoring records, marked the feat earlier this year with a goal against Atletico ­Madrid in the semifinal of Spain's Copa del Rey.

It's fitting that Zlatan matched Ronaldo with a backheel. The Portuguese is perhaps the only other player who has a catlog of impromptu and impudent flicks, audacious long-range strikes and almost superhuman acts of contortion in his showreel to match the Swede's.

Despite everything else he has achieved, Lionel Messi is yet to score in every minute of the 90. When Messi has not broken a record then you know it is something special. We live in an age where we're spoiled for soccer stars but this is a different level entirely.

On Thursday, Zlatan lifted his shirt to reveal a message for supporters that read, "You made it all possible." On the contrary, it's Zlatan's talent that makes the seemingly impossible possible. We fans should just sit back and enjoy it.

The author is a Beijing-based freelance writer. jmawhite@gmail.com