Zlatan Ibrahimovic says ‘goodbye to football’ as he ends his career at 41

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is no longer a football player. This Sunday evening, the 41-year-old Swedish striker announced that he was saying “goodbye” to football and ending his career, while AC Milan had given him a moving farewell.

As he bid farewell to AC Milan this Sunday, Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced the end of his career. The 41-year-old Swede says “goodbye to football”. A tribute was paid to him this Sunday evening by the Milanese public.

“It’s time to say goodbye to football, not just to you. There are too many emotions now, go Milan and goodbye”, he launched into the microphone, on the ground of the stadium of San Siro, after the victory of his partners against Hellas Verona (3-1) during the 38th and last day of the season.

AC Milan, the club to which he returned at the end of 2019 and which he largely contributed to bringing back to the top, with in particular the title of Italian champion in 2022, announced on Saturday a ceremony to “thank Zlatan for the wonderful moments that we spent together”.

He has only started one game this season

Due to repeated injuries, the 40-year-old has hardly been able to play this season. He returned to competition in February after having surgery on his left knee in May 2022. The Swede has started just one game this season, in March, in the 3-1 victory at Udinese. . He then became the oldest scorer in the history of Serie A. At the end of March, he still hoped to be able to play Euro-2024, next year in Germany. But he then re-injured a calf during a pre-match warm-up in April, and has since finished the season on the sidelines, where he was again for the last game of his career on Sunday night .

“We can only thank him for everything he has done for us. And it’s sad that a champion like that no longer plays football,” coach Stefano Pioli commented on the Milan club channel.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic won his first Italian league title with Milan in 2011. He also worked for Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus, Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, ​​Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, and has many champion titles to his credit: two in the Netherlands, five in Italy (three with Inter, two with Milan), one in Spain and four in France. Between his time at Manchester United and his return to Milan, he wore the colors of the Los Angeles Galaxy from March 2018 to November 2019.