Zlatan Ibrahimovic retires here is a look at his career
Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his retirement from football with immediate effect at the age of 41. Here is a look at his illustrious career filled with goals.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the most loved football players. The admiration towards him comes because of multiple reasons like his famous quotes, his confidence and most importantly his goal-scoring abilities. Here is a look at his wonderful career as he bids goodbye to professional football.
Malmö FF
Zlatan signed his first contract with Malmo in 1996 with the junior side. He moved to the senior team in 1999 where they played in Allsvenskan, Sweden’s top league. Malmo finished 13th and was relegated to Superettan. They were back in the top-flight division in the next season. Arsene Wenger tried to sign Zlatan for Arsenal in 2001 but failed to do so. Zlatan later in his career talked about Arsenal’s failed attempt to sign him. The striker said, “Arsène Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
Ajax
Zlatan did not receive much playing time under manager Co Adriaanse but when he was sacked and replaced by Ronald Koeman, Zlatan once again got his playing time. In his Champions League debut, he scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Lyon who were French Champions at the time.
Juventus
Ibrahimovic moved to Juventus from Ajax in 2004. At Juventus, Zlatan won the Serie A title twice in a row in 2004-05 and 2005-06. These titles were later removed due to the Calciopoli scandal in Italy. He scored 26 goals in 92 appearances. He even won the Player of the Year award for Juventus in 2004-05. Real Madrid supposedly made a €70 million proposal for him, which Juventus apparently refused. It was later discovered that this was a media ploy orchestrated by Mino Raiola, Ibrahimovic’s agent, to raise Ibrahimovic’s market value.
Inter Milan
In August of 2006, Ibrahimovic joined one of Juventus’ rivals Inter Milan. He further said that he supported Inter when he was young. Zlatan scored 66 goals in 117 appearances. Ibrahimovic with Inter won three Serie A titles in a row in 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2008–09 and even won the Supercoppa Italiana twice in 2006 and 2008. During his time playing for Inter, he won the Serie A Footballer of the Year award in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Barcelona
Zlatan moved to Barcelona on a swap deal. Barcelona who won the treble in the previous season went for the young Swedish striker and traded their own striker, Samuel Eto’o and also reportedly paid a fee of £59 million. It was a deal which helped Inter a lot, Inter won the treble the next season and Eto’o won the treble twice in a row first with Barcelona then with Inter. His torrid relationship with Pep Guardiola was one of the biggest reasons for his unsuccessful stint at the Spanish club. He scored just 22 goals in 46 matches. He talked about one of his altercations with Guardiola. Zlatan said, ‘You can go to hell!’ I completely lost it, and you might have expected Guardiola to say a few words in response, but he’s a spineless coward. He just […] left, never to mention it again, not a word.” Later in an interview with The Guardian, Ibrahimovic said, “I was probably with the best team in history. Their football was beautiful. When I prepared for a game, I knew I had won even before we started. I looked at the players around me and saw Messi and Iniesta and Xavi and Puyol and Piqué and Dani Alves and Busquets. Unbelievable! It was football from another planet and I loved it. It was technically perfect.”
AC Milan
In the 2010-11 season, he was loaned to AC Milan with an option to buy at €24 million. Ibrahimovic even scored against his former club Inter in the Derby della Madonnina as AC Milan beat them 1-0. He even received a three-match ban after punching Bari defender Marco Rossi in the stomach.
He was bought by AC Milan in the following season. In the Champions League, he once again scored against his former club, this time it was Barcelona who were at the receiving end. AC Milan later lost the tie as Barcelona managed to win the match at San Siro with a 3-2 margin.
Paris Saint-Germain
It was at Paris Saint-Germain where Zlatan enjoyed arguably the most success. In 180 appearances he scored 156 goals for PSG. He won the Ligue 1 four times in a row in 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16. He won Coupe de France twice in 2014-15 and 2015-16. He was the Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2015–16 and featured in Ligue 1 Team of the Year in 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16. During the same time, he even won the FIFA Puskas Award in 2013 for his goal for his national team, Sweden against England.
Manchester United
Manchester United was the only English club that Zlatan played for. In the two seasons he was there he scored 29 goals in 53 appearances. Even though he suffered an injury in the 2016-17 season, he would remember it for a long time as he won his first European title. Manchester United beat Ajax in the 2016-17 final to win the UEFA Europa League.
LA Galaxy
His time at LA Galaxy was a memorable one. He announced his signing for the club by taking out a full-page advertisement which said, “Dear Los Angeles, you’re welcome.” On March 31st, he made a brilliant debut as he helped LA Galaxy win the El Tráfico derby from three goals down. Zlatan scored twice in the 4-3 victory over the city rivals. He scored a great 45-yard volley and even scored a header in the stoppage time. Talking about the match he said, “I heard the crowd saying ‘We want Zlatan, we want Zlatan’, so I gave them Zlatan.” In the 2019 season, he was also named the team captain.
AC Milan
Zlatan returned once again to AC Milan in the 2019-20 season. During the season, he became the first player to score 50 goals for both Inter Milan and AC Milan. He even became the oldest player to score at least 10 goals in a season. In the following season, 2020-21 he scored twice in Derby della Madonnina as AC Milan beat Inter 2-1. It was a successful season for AC Milan as they ended the 2020-21 season as runner-up and came back to Champions League football.
In the following season, AC Milan won the Serie A with 86 points in 38 games. On June 4, 2023, he announced his retirement after AC Milan’s final game of the season.
He bid goodbye to an illustrious career filled with goals. For his clubs, he scored 511 goals in 866 appearances while for Sweden, he scored 62 goals in 122 appearances.
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