Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic explained how coach Stefano Pioli ‘challenges’ him every day and claimed the Rossoneri coach ‘has the right mentality’.
Ibrahimovic has renewed with the Diavolo for a further year and will continue to work at Milanello in 2021-22.
The Swede said he has created a great relationship with Pioli and admitted it was ‘easy’ to get along with the former Fiorentina coach ‘from day one’.
Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic explained how coach Stefano Pioli ‘challenges’ him every day and claimed the Rossoneri coach ‘has the right mentality’.
Ibrahimovic has renewed with the Diavolo for a further year and will continue to work at Milanello in 2021-22.
The Swede said he has created a great relationship with Pioli and admitted it was ‘easy’ to get along with the former Fiorentina coach ‘from day one’.
“What we went through last year was not easy,” Ibrahimovic told MilanTV. “Every game, Pioli said: ‘Ibra, be good’. And I was bad.
“The next game, Pioli said: ‘Ibra, be bad’ and he was the good, but he commanded when he wanted to. We played these games.
“At first, you don’t know people, but from day one it was very easy with him. Pioli has the right mentality, every day he has this energy that he transmits to everyone, he wants the best from the team.
“He calls me in the morning and asks me: ‘Where are you, I’m already working’. He challenges me like this.
“When you feel good and you are well, you want to play as much as possible, but Pioli wants to protect me and save me for the next game.
“I don’t know if it’s my problem, but my mentality of being there until the end, of giving my best. Because if I give my best, I know that my colleagues will do the same: with the adrenaline you have, you are never satisfied until the end.”