Zlatan Ibrahimovic can no longer be decisive on the field, but his closeness to the team shows that he has a pitchside role rather than an office-based one as some had suspected.
La Gazzetta dello Sport write how when Ibrahimovic arrives at stadiums he has a pass hanging around his neck . That particular accreditation that allows him to access anywhere: the executive seats, changing rooms, pitchside and areas reserved for the team.
It makes sense, after all, for someone like him who has become an all-encompassing ‘super consultant’ since he began his third Milan life as a former player.
In these first few weeks, Ibra is observing and studying a lot because watching football from a new perspective requires time, patience and intuition. At the moment he is dedicating more time to the field, given that he team needs him.
There are already many fans who have associated the last four consecutive league victories with his magical aura, a thesis also well supported by the way in which Udine’s victory was achieved.
The Mike Maignan incident spoke volumes, because in the most delicate and challenging of moments his emotions certainly crossed the threshold of self control, which is totally understandable.
The problem is that there was a whole half left to play and so Zlatan came down from the stands and took the goalkeeper aside, to tell him the things that Maignan himself then revealed after the match.
“I didn’t want to play anymore. He told me to stay strong in my head, to give the right answer and win the match. I was angry, but we are a family,” he said.
Maignan is no longer a boy, he is 28 years of age and is the starting goalkeeper of the French national team, but it was in part Ibra’s intervention that put things right from a purely sporting point of view.
It was almost as if the Swede was saying ‘you are absolutely right, I too have had to deal with racism in my career, but now the team needs you to win this match’. Mike returned to the pitch, Milan won and after the match the Frenchman said what he thought.
Ibra also waited for him at the end of the match: between tunnel that leads into the underbelly of the Stadio Friuli, he took Mike’s arm again and told him other things to which the Frenchman reacted by nodding with conviction.
The key is that Zlatan remains close to the team and subsequently the pitch. The 41-year-old often goes to Milanello, travels on the team bus, enters the dressing room before a matc and goes to see his children play with the youth teams.
His area of expertise as a ‘super consultant’ actually ranges on all fronts because he cares about everyone, knows how to immerse himself in situations, is respectful of roles and very in tune with Geoffrey Moncada.
The time will also come when he will be immersed in a new experience in New York when he visits Gerry Cardinale’s office. For now, though, it is the dynamics of the sporting side that give him the opportunity to intervene.
Zlatan ❤️
Zlatan did right here.
We all know that racism is wrong but Maignan is a team leader and should have stayed on the field.
I’m quite disappointed that Maignan ran off the field. Raise the issue, draw attention to it, force the refs to do something but unless your life is under threat DO NOT run off the field like a 12 yr old girl.
As a team leader and a 28yr old man, Maignan and the entire Milan team needs to stand up to racism – not hide in the locker room and refuse to play because someone in the universe said something horrible. Point to the crowds, call them out immediately. Use peer pressure to identify ppl. Get stadium stewards/police in the area. But DO NOT RUN AND HIDE.
I’m sorry Maignan had to endure this but thankful to Zlatans experience to convince him to get back out on the field.
Run off the field like a 12 yr old girl?
Are you serious?
You would claim to understand people standing behind you and demeaning you because of the color of your skin?
You would know this occurs often? And understand the impact on a fellow human being this constant erosion of his humanity?
You would feel that corrosion and be strong enough to “just go on”
Find a black man. Ask him about his world and listen. Better yet read the book Black like Me.
Mike was the strongest _MAN_ on that field for walking off like a man who respects himself and understands his value as a human being. Zlatan simply reminded him he could apply that strength in ways he may not have considered. And _Mike_ the man made those consideration and happened to choose as you’d hoped (me too).
Seems the difference is I would offer 100% support had he chose the other way.
Forza Mike. F racism. F these sorts of dog whistle posts.
According to him a football game is more important than fighting racism or a player’s mental health.
a lot of people think the same way sadly but if this guy who’s calling someone a 12 year old girl for reacting to racial abuse was in maignans shoes he wouldn’t be saying this and he will probably never experience being insulted for his color and ethnicity.
Man this your take is just off by a lot.
All the people who received racism and yet remained on the pitch, what else did it prove.
Mike does not have to prove anything to. Anyone that he is a leader. It’s cimmebts like this that make it seem like players who walk out are cowards. All the pointing and identifying of people has done nothing and yet the racism continues.
And really man like a twelve year old girl. REALLY. whatever point you were onto was devalued by those words. Man analyze better PLEASE.
RACISM CAN AND HAS INCITED VIOLENCE. HIS LIFE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE IN DANGER BEFORE HE ACTS.
❤️🖤
I always wonder what some of these guys think of their “own”, especially a good number of southerners (most notably: Campagnia, Sicilia, Calabria residents). A lot of these guys have p dark skintones