Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates his 40th birthday by looking back at his ‘ghetto’ roots, the injuries, coaches and players who changed his career and why he’s not ready to hang up his Milan boots yet.
The Sweden international was gifted a huge cake at the training ground today, as well as wine bottled the year of his birth, in 1981.
“The Ibrahimovic of today is more complete, more calm, but every now and then I am like the old Ibrahimovic,” he smiled in a lengthy interview with Milan Channel.
“I am more experienced and therefore behave differently, as I have a different role, both on and off the field. I don’t need to rush through things like crazy anymore.”
His upbringing in a rough area influenced much of his attitude, and Zlatan insists the same is still true.
“I think there’s a lot of the ghetto in me, if not all of it. I grew up in those areas and it was like paradise for me. You can take the boy out of the ghetto, but not the ghetto out of the boy.”
That desire to prove everyone wrong is still fuelling the 40-year-old to this day.
“When people tell me I’m old, it just motivates me to do things to prove that I’m not.”
Zlatan says he has no regrets over past decisions and learned a great deal from the serious knee injury that almost ended his career at Manchester United.
“That injury made me much stronger mentally. You work in a different way, more static, sad and slow, you must be patient and keep your tension under control.”
He then went to the LA Galaxy and continues to look down on Major League Soccer.
“I was myself from the first day, and I gave more to American football than they did to me. They saw something they’d never seen before, a personality who fears nothing. I was happy being myself, unlike the Americans who went around with 20 people in their entourage. I miss the sun a little, but that’s not too much of a problem in Milan.
“I can’t play the way I did five years ago, but I have been given a role where I can help the team and not ruin my fitness levels. I want to be treated like everyone else in the team, I always give 100 per cent, and that is my mentality. If you have talent, but not the right mentality…”
When asked to name the player who made the biggest impact on him, Ibrahimovic chose Patrick Vieira.
“I’ve played with the best in the world, but the one who really made me better was Vieira. He put pressure on, always asked for more. He’d train to the max and I listened to his advice. I played with Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Nedved, Pirlo, Gattuso…
“Fabio Capello is a coach who totally changed me. He had a different philosophy, he would fire me up and tear me to shreds. I couldn’t understand what he wanted from me. One day he’d say I was the best, the next that I was a disaster. I wanted to prove that I belonged at Juve and he was playing with my mind, but that responsibility made me what I am today. At the time, it was like being at a PlayStation game, there were too many big names. I take respect now, I don’t ask for it.”
Ibra was asked about his future and what he plans to do after he hangs up his boots.
“First I have to play, then we can think about the second step. I don’t feel that I’m there yet, I still feel that I’m the best of them all, I can bring results and satisfy the fans. Step 2 depends on the club.
“We have created something important and different to what I was accustomed to at Milan. It is a great challenge, but one that can become fantastically satisfying.
“I am not satisfied yet, I want to do more. When I am satisfied, that is when I say goodbye to football. A player must be hungry. I want to walk on fire to feel alive. Every pass, every shot, every energy I pass on to my teammates, I want to be the maximum, without limits.”
Finally, Ibrahimovic joked the secret to his strength is in his hair, “like Samson.”