Zlatan Ibrahimovic has opened up on a number of topics, ranging from his time with Juventus, Inter and Milan, as well as his encounters with the likes of Fabio Capello, Mario Balotelli and Romelu Lukaku in a recent Q&A session.
Ibrahimovic was a guest speaker at the Festival dello Sport in Trento on Sunday, where he took to the stage to answer a series of questions from Gazzetta journalist Luigi Garlando.
The subjects covered practically every chapter of Ibrahimovic’s career in the professional game, with a particular focus on the time he spent in Serie A.
His first coach since moving to Italy from Ajax was Fabio Capello. Ibrahimovid said of the then-Juventus coach: “As soon as I arrived, he told me to forget everything about Ajax. He told me that I had a better technique than (Marco) van Basten, but my movement wasn’t as good.
“At Juventus, I wanted to show the world who I am, but I was lacking in goals. David Trezeguet scored them all. On the field, we proved that we were the strongest.”
After his stint in Turin, Ibrahimovic moved over to the city of Milan to join Inter, where he shared the dressing room with another larger-than-life character in Mario Balotelli.
“He had so many opportunities to exploit his talent and change his future. He never did, though, that’s the truth.
In 2009, Ibrahimovic made the move to Catalonia to join Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, however it soon became clear that he was not the right fit for the team or, more importantly, the coach at the time.
“It wasn’t an easy time for me at Barcelona, the coach wanted to sell me at all costs. We played against Milan and Ronaldinho told me ‘After the match, come with us’. At that point, (Adriano) Galliani came to my house to convince me.
“I had a good relationship with Silvio Berlusconi, he gave me an opportunity to smile again.”
After a series of further moves that took him to Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and LA Galaxy, Ibrahimovic later returned to San Siro to help the Rossoneri to another Serie A title. That achievement is up there with the best of his career, the Swede believes.
“There were no superstars,” he said. “We had to take things one game at a time. Whoever was ready stayed, the others left. An incredible group was created, the best I’d ever seen.”
During his second spell with Milan, Ibra formed half of a now-iconic image when he came face-to-face with Romelu Lukaku while the Belgian was at Inter. There are no negative feelings between the two away from the pitch, however.
“Unfortunately, there wasn’t that final match. I knew him and he wasn’t the same guy as the one who I fought on the pitch. It surprised me at the time, because he isn’t normally like that. That’s how I am, though.”