Zlatan Ibrahimović: “Retirement? We are not there yet”

Struggling with a knee injury in recent years, Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimović doesn’t appear to be ready to call time on his stellar club career. 

Speaking to CNN, the former Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain marksman revealed that he would not hang his shoes after the 2022/23 season.

The Sweden international said that he would not stop playing football with regrets and also shed light on his struggles both on and off the pitch. According to Ibrahimović, he would take painkillers every day for six months to keep the pain in his knee at bay.

 In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Ibrahimović said,

“I have a big passion for my game. 

“I have a different situation now with my age and with the teammates I have, but I’m enjoying every day because I think, when you stop football, you will miss it so much that you don’t want to have any regrets saying I should have kept playing.”

He added:

“As long as I can produce results, I will still play. The day I slow down, I want the people around me to be honest and say he’s slowing down and then I’ll be realistic.”

“I took more than 20 injections in six months. I emptied the knee once a week for six months, painkillers every day for six months, barely slept for six months because of the pain, never suffered so much on and off the pitch.”

Last season, Milan lifted the Scudetto for the first time since the 2010/11 season. Although the 41-year-old didn’t play much, the presence of his astronomical personality inside the dressing room was a huge morale boost to the group that went on to lift the Serie A title at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

GIFN | Jyotirmoy Halder

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