Football: At 41, Zlatan Ibrahimovic retires

Farewell to spectacular gestures, on the field but also outside. Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced the end of his playing career on Sunday evening June 4 at the age of 41. “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 San Siro stadium, after the victory of AC Milan against Hellas Verona (3-1) during the 38^e 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 a ceremony on Saturday for “thank Zlatan for the wonderful times we spent together”.

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 only one game this season, in March, in the victory (3-1) on the ground of the ‘Udinese. He then became the oldest goalscorer 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 ended the season on the sidelines, where he was again for the last game of his career, Sunday night .

“It’s sad that a champion like that no longer plays football”

“We can only thank him for everything he has done for us. And it’s sad that a champion like that doesn’t play football anymore.”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 Championship titles to his name: two in the Netherlands, five in Italy (three with Inter, two with AC 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.