Zlatan Ibrahimovic jokes he has played with two generations of Maldini at Milan and ‘hopefully can play with Daniel's son also, that would be a miracle.'
The 39-year-old is at his second stint at San Siro and took the opportunity to reflect on a generational shift.
“I feel like I've been here different generations. I played against Paolo Maldini and now I'm playing with his son, Daniel. Hopefully I can play with Daniel's son also, that would be a miracle,” Zlatan told Football Focus on the BBC.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic jokes he has played with two generations of Maldini at Milan and ‘hopefully can play with Daniel's son also, that would be a miracle.'
The 39-year-old is at his second stint at San Siro and took the opportunity to reflect on a generational shift.
“I feel like I've been here different generations. I played against Paolo Maldini and now I'm playing with his son, Daniel. Hopefully I can play with Daniel's son also, that would be a miracle,” Zlatan told Football Focus on the BBC.
“I have a lot of experience, goals have never been an issue, I just keep going. I'm not the same player I was five years ago, I'm not the same player I was 10 years ago, we all change because of the development in your physical point of view.
“I'm honest in saying that I'm not running like I ran before; I'm running more intelligent now. The Italian league, the reason I say that it's the most difficult to play in for a striker is because it's very technical and the philosophy of Italy is to not to concede a goal rather than score a goal.”
Ibra confessed he had been ready to retire over the summer after seven months at Milan, but was talked out of it by coach Stefano Pioli.
Unlike the knee injury at Manchester United in 2017, he was prepared to go out on his own terms.
“After my injury I said to myself that as long as I can play football I want to play. But when you play on this level it's all about performance. If you perform, if you bring results, then you are still on the top level.
“As soon as you don't do that someone else will come and they will perform. I like that pressure because I don't want to be here because of what I've done before. I'm here because of what I do at the present time and that is the pressure I put on myself.
“Whatever I did before I don't bring it on the table now because it's like I have to demonstrate every day who I am. That's why I bring out the best of me every day. I'll keep going until I can't do these things I'm doing.”