The 41-year-old Swedish striker opened up about his experiences at Milan since the last year on his long-awaited return to action
In a surprising turn of events, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has chosen to let his usual guard down and actually open up about his experiences at Milan since his return to the club. The Swedish marksman spoke about suffering for Milan, postponing his surgery in a season that ended up with them winning their 19th title.
Zlatan opens up about his knee surgery
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his return to action in Milan’s 2-0 win over Atalanta on Sunday. The 41-year-old striker didn’t feature for the Rossonerri since their 3-0 against Sassuolo in May 2022. He underwent knee surgery days later.
“I missed the fans so much, I thank them for giving me strength, adrenaline and the motivation to continue. Without the support of the fans, it is difficult,” Ibra told DAZN.
“I feel good, if we look back, I haven’t felt this good for a year and two months. I feel able to do what I can do. I felt free today to do what I love, which is to play football.
“I said that I’d make San Siro jump, well today it was jumping.”
Zlatan then surprised everyone as he opened up about what he went through as he delayed his surgery so he could help AC Milan challenge for the Scudetto.
“If I have to tell the whole story, I’ll be here for hours. I suffered a lot, so much. The last six months of last season I wanted in every way to help the team, even when I couldn’t really play. could’ve had the surgery six months earlier, but I could tell this was the season we could win the Scudetto,” continued the Swede.
“I promised to the coach that I would hold off on the surgery because I wanted to be there for the team and help them. I never suffered so much as I did last season for a trophy.
“The last six months of last season I wanted in every way to help the team“
“It was also a year when the tragedy of losing Mino (Raiola), so mentally it was a lot of suffering too, not just physically. Thankfully, I have people around me who help give me the strength to keep going. When I’m in good shape, though, I am stronger than anyone. And I’m serious, Ambro.
“I feel like someone who can help more than I did today. I had two or three training sessions and played 15 minutes, imagine what I can do with training sessions. That is what I am missing, the training. It’s been a year and two months since I really got to work with the ball at my feet, but today it felt like no time had passed at all.”
Zlatan then admitted that his stay at Milan couldn’t be just because of merit and his past with the club.
“I don’t want to be here for what I did one, five or ten years ago. It’s for what I do now. If I don’t bring results or think I only need to play the last 5-10 minutes, I will stay home. It’s already over if someone thinks that. I want to play the whole game.” Zlatan added.
