The star remains ultra-motivated, as evidenced by his bloody face during his last appearance, against Bologna (0-0) ten days ago, or his permanent advice from the bench where he sits too often for his taste. But the colossus is increasingly betrayed by his legs.
Ibrahimovic is still out for ten days due to left knee pain. He is therefore forfeited for the reception of Genoa on Friday (9:00 p.m.) in Serie A but especially for the two shocks of next week: the derby against Inter Milan in the semi-final return of the Italian Cup (0-0 at the go) then the trip to Lazio Rome in the league.
The “quadra” has followed almost half of the matches from the stands this season, between his recovery after surgery on his left knee in June and two Achilles tendon injuries in September and February.
In all, 19 appearances in the league, including only 11 as a starter, in 31 days, with an average playing time of around fifty minutes per game played.
Giroud become indispensable
In the Champions League, where he could go down in history as the oldest goalscorer in the competition, he only had one tenure (and three appearances), without scoring and without avoiding the last place in the group. to the Rossoneri.
So of course, in the locker room, his experience remains valuable – he was in the last Milan team crowned champion in 2011 – in a still young workforce, currently at the top of the championship.
“He’s a fighter. (…) He always wants to help us. And when he talks to you, we listen! “, testified in March Théo Hernandez in L’Equipe.
But his repeated injuries, depriving him of rhythm, put his future in question, while his contract ends in June.
AC Milan has not suffered too much from its dotted performance (8 goals, none for three months) thanks to the rise of Olivier Giroud, the lining that has become essential at the forefront.
According to indiscretions from the Italian press, the club will let Ibrahimovic decide whether to continue for another year or stop. This does not prevent the Rossoneri from working to rejuvenate their attack by probing players like Divock Origi (26) and Gianluca Scamacca (23) for next season.
“Listen to your body”
“Zlatan has the intelligence and the character to make the best choice, we will be with him whatever his decision,” commented his coach Stefano Pioli to the press on Thursday.
Ibrahimovic had not hidden in March his “panic” to stop football: “I know that I would have other possibilities, but this adrenaline that I have on the lawn I will not find it anywhere else”, had -he confessed before the play-offs for the World Cup-2022.
The non-qualification of the Swedes for Qatar deprives him of a good objective to continue to maintain his body. Even if he assures that he wants to continue in selection, with whom he reconnected last year without however being able to compete in the Euro because of his knee operation.
Some, like the former Italian international Luca Toni, push him to think about “stopping at the top, at the level he has been all his life”: “It would be a shame to see a champion like Ibrahimovic play little and when he the fact of not meeting expectations, ”he said in the Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday.
Francesco Totti, who had hung up at the age of 40 in 2017, has only one advice for the Swede: “I hope to see you still exult after a few goals during these last days of the championship. Then, at the end of the season, listen to your body: it will tell you what to do”.