Cristiano Ronaldo’s downfall makes me appreciate Ibrahimovic even more

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s impressive attitude over the last few years is even more impressive considering Cristiano Ronaldo’s sad end to his career, writes Adam Summerton.

As a footballer, I admire Cristiano Ronaldo greatly – he is one of the greatest players of all time, in my opinion, his achievements are genuinely astonishing, and his dedication to his craft, in terms of physical conditioning, is perhaps unmatched.

But as the events of recent weeks have unfolded – with both Manchester United and Portugal – I have lamented what I see as an opportunity missed. I’d argue his national team now operates better without Ronaldo as a regular starter, but he is still capable of playing a hugely positive role at club and international level. Ronaldo scored 24 goals in 38 appearances for Manchester United last season – if a 21-year-old did that, we’d be lauding them as one of the games’ great prospects.

The problem with Ronaldo, as Juventus found to their cost, is that it all has to be about him – and if you’re looking to build a well-honed, fully functioning club side – it cannot be so dependent on one supremely talented individual in his late 30s. As some Juventus players have since testified, teammates became too reliant on him and the team’s dynamic suffered severely. It’s also a natural consequence of age that someone in their late 30s won’t be able to run as far or with the intensity required to suit certain team requirements. Pressing from the front, for example, requires every one of the forwards to buy in and if one doesn’t, it renders the whole exercise pointless.

Despite this, I maintain that Ronaldo – with a change in his mindset – could still have a significant role to play in a top-European league and with Portugal. I’ve heard people say that’s not possible because he’s not wired that way and needs to be the main man. Surely, better to change your expectations, and accept the limitations of age, than to end up playing at a standard – in somewhere like the middle-east – that is way below the level you are still capable of competing in.

I guess you could say it all boils down to ego – the assertion that he won’t let him accept a more limited role within a top club. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – who’s more than three years older than Ronaldo, is walking, talking proof that ego need be no barrier to retaining significance well into your 30s and even, in Ibra’s case, when you are in your 40s.

Over the last decade, before the Rossoneri renaissance that came to full fruition last season, I used to ponder how one of Europe’s biggest names might return to the top of Italian football. What would it look like, how would it happen? Never did I imagine it would be with a hedge fund running the club, with Stefano Pioli – a coach who’d never won a major honour – in charge, and with a 40-year-old forward playing an important role on and off the pitch.

If Milan make this return to prominence last – and I believe they will – history should judge, in my opinion, Ibrahimovic as one of the most important figures in the club’s modern history. Put simply, I don’t believe they would be anywhere where they are now without his influential presence over the last three years.

Some might think that’s a strange thing to say about a player who hasn’t featured yet this season, and who only started 11 league games last term. But since his arrival in January 2020, soon after Milan had famously been taken apart by Atalanta in Bergamo, Ibrahimovic has been crucial in totally revamping the mindset of the whole club. For me, this quote, from an interview he gave to Prime Video in November 2021, illustrates so well why someone of his standing in the game has been able to make such a positive difference to one of Europe’s biggest clubs at such a late stage of his career.

“Am I satisfied? I have a problem, which is that I am never satisfied. I always want to do more, and that’s my mindset. It is not that I have to demonstrate, but I have to do something more to feel alive and to feel that I am present.

“I don’t want to be here for something I’ve done before, I want to be here for what I do in the present. I like to work, I like to suffer, I like this world that is alive. Then the more you age, the more you change: physically, mentally. But an intelligent person adapts to everything.”

The last line says the most for me. Adaption is key. It’s how any species survive in the wild. Those who don’t adapt, die out. Ibrahimovic has proved a master at adaption. He’s no longer going to score 20-30 goals per season – even when fully fit he’ll often be involved from the bench, but – as so many at Milan have testified over the last few years – his influence and his leadership have made a massive difference to them individually and collectively.

Speaking to RAI 3 in May 2022, Stefano Pioli said of him – “Zlatan helped me to grow, he gave the whole team that mentality and belief. He is the most intelligent and likeable person I know in football.”

It’s not just Ibra’s personality that have been so crucial at Milan though – he isn’t just some glorified cheerleader. Like all of the very best players – he retains an ability to have big moments too and may well do again in the second half of this season. I remember, just for example, how he came off the bench to set up Sandro Tonali’s crucial injury winner at Lazio at the back end of last season. Having played much of that campaign while managing Achilles tendon and knee problems that required surgery over the summer, he is now close to a long-awaited return and told Milan TV recently that he’s eager to contribute.

“I am someone who wants to help in every way – I don’t have the big ego of someone who wants to do everything himself. I am here at Milan to give everything, to help my teammates improve, to have success and understand what we’re doing. It is a sacrifice; hard work and we aren’t doing this just to pass the time. When you provide and assist, it’s just as important as scoring a goal. I do everything I can to help.”

For all his undeniable brilliance, I can’t imagine Cristiano Ronaldo saying some of these things – I also wonder whether his ego would be able to accept the significant pay cut that Ibrahimovic reportedly accepted to extend his time at Milan over the summer.

Will history place Ibrahimovic at Ronaldo’s truly exceptional level? I would say no – but Ibra would certainly be on a list of my most influential players of the last 20 years, and the difference he has made to one of European football’s biggest clubs, in the twilight of his career, is immeasurable – an amazing legacy. If Ronaldo is willing to change and adapt, he could undoubtedly do something similar.