Italian soccer
From corona patient to derby hero: 39-year-old Ibrahimovic also “strong with a cigarette in his mouth”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic shot AC Milan to win against local rivals Inter
© Spada / Lapresse / Lapresse via ZUMA Press / DPA
First he dropped out because of a positive test for Covid-19, then he decides the most important game of the year for a club on his own: Zlatan Ibrahimovic is currently astonishing everyone at AC Milan.
Christian Vieri had already suspected it. He had speculated that Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s corona infection would do little to damage the Swedish football professional’s fighter reputation. Vieri told the newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport” about the AC Milan professional before the derby against local rivals Inter: “A guy who says Covid had a bad idea to challenge him is stronger in his head than everyone else: He’s playing the derby with a cigarette in his mouth, believe me. ”
And Vieri was right. So not that Ibrahimovic ran across the square smoking in the venerable Giuseppe Meazza stadium last night – but stronger, above all more spectacular than the other 21 players on the field, the eccentric was actually again.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the bad idea of Covid-19
The amazing thing about it: The 39-year-old star attacker from Serie A had previously spent around two weeks in corona quarantine. When his infection became known, he wrote on Twitter: “Covid had the courage to challenge me. Bad idea”. Less than a week ago he finally made his recovery public.
“Milan hadn’t won the derby for four years,” Ibrahimovic said afterwards on “Sky Sports Italia”: “I was locked up at home for two weeks and then so incredibly hungry for the game. And I showed that.”
As usual, he added a few more pithy sentences: “I’m a more complete player than ten years ago,” said “Ibra” in the self-analysis. “If I had the fitness level from then, nobody would stop me. You can’t stop me like that either.”
The Swede didn’t refrain from giving a small outlook on the season and possible goals: “The Scudetto (the Italian championship title – editor’s note) is not impossible if you just believe in it – because then you can do anything. ” But there is still a long way to go until then.
Ibrahimovic has already come a long way with his career – but, and the Milan derby once again impressively demonstrated that, he doesn’t seem tired by any means.
