Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has insisted he is not concerned by his recent barren spell in front of goal. The Swede enjoyed a flying start to his Barça career following a big-money switch from Inter Milan last summer, and by Christmas he had already scored 11 times in La Liga.

However, since netting the only goal in the derby win over Espanyol on 12 December, Ibrahimovic has only found the back of the net once, which was during the Copa del Rey defeat by Sevilla at the start of January. Despite going almost two months without scoring in the league, though, the 28-year-old is not letting the situation get to him and believes he is still contributing to his team's success in other ways.

"I'm not worried, this has happened to me other times," Ibrahimovic told El Periodico de Catalunya. "In my first year at Ajax I started very well, then things went bad, then well again... a rollercoaster. It's normal, because you have to adapt to many things and in very little time.

An assist is like a goal, because you are making a team-mate happy. And this is as important for me as scoring. I'm not worried about this poor run because the goals will end up coming.
Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his lack of goals this year

"The same thing happened when I arrived at Juventus and at Inter, a season with ups and downs. Obviously, being the No9 and a centre-forward in a team like Barcelona, it's important to score goals, but that's not everything - at least not for me.

"If you participate in the play and set up team-mates, I feel just as good," added the 28-year-old, who has seven assists to his credit this term. "An assist is like a goal, because you are making a team-mate happy.

"And this is as important for me as scoring. I'm not worried about this poor run because the goals will end up coming. If you play well, you help the team. If you create chances, you score."

Plusses aplenty, solitary regret
Even without Ibrahimovic getting on the score-sheet, Barcelona have been unstoppable in recent weeks. In their last six league and cup games, they have picked up six wins, scored 16 goals and conceded just one, which came in the last minute of Saturday's 2-1 win over Getafe.

That form has helped Pep Guardiola's side open up a five-point gap over second-placed Real Madrid in La Liga, although they did also see the defence of their Copa del Rey title come to an end at the hands of Sevilla during that time as well, despite winning the second leg of their last-16 tie.

I'm happy here. We've picked up three titles in six months, we are at the top of the table and we haven't lost in the league.
Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Reflecting on his first six months with the Catalan club, Ibrahimovic said: "My family and I have adapted well, I'm happy here. We've picked up three titles in six months, we are at the top of the table and we haven't lost in the league.

"The team have won everything and want to continue like that. It's impressive. I only regret that what happened to us in the Copa del Rey. I think we deserved to go through because Sevilla are not better than us. But in football these things happen."