Zlatan Ibrahimovic has always been known for his ego and when speaking to CBS earlier today, it showed once again when looking at his return to AC Milan.
Ibrahimovic’s return to Milan is still a defining moment in the Scudetto season. That added experience in the dressing room helped massively and whilst he struggled with injury, he still played a big part in the successes of that season.
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Those injuries signalled the beginning of the end and he retired in the season that followed before heading into a management role a year later. Since then, questions have continued to be asked about what he does.
However, this summer may be his final one in the limelight, with him expected to head to America after.
Ibrahimovic discusses Scudetto quality
Speaking to Tom Brady on Fox Sports, the Swede answered several questions and one was about his return to the Diavolo, and his answer was certainly a little intriguing.
“During my second spell at Milan, I didn’t play with any great players. I played with average players, but I put enormous pressure on each of them. They were good players, but I was the absolute leader of the team, and they were simply waiting for me.
“That period was truly special for me, because it was about giving something back to the club, not taking something. When you’re young, you only think about yourself, but as you gain experience and get older, you understand that it’s important to give back, because you no longer have the same ego as before.
“So, in those moments when the entire opposing stadium was booing me, a movie would play in my head and I’d think, ‘Just wait until I score, then I really want to hear you boo.’”
So were they average or good? Luckily for Milan, he miraculously survived the ghetto of Sweden as a young boy, so he was strong enough to bring the average players to a title.
THIS guy is chosen to head “the project”, let that sink in once again. I feel a lot of people don’t realize it still or are in a denial phase.
But God kept him alive in the horrible Swedish ghetto he grew up in. It was a miracle he even survived. It is his destiny.
It’s like he was a one:man show in his mind. Sigh
Ha ha.
He did play with average players. Look where they are now.
No, during the scudetto season he didn’t play with any players, because his mental illness, also known as God complex, made him blind to both his age and the seriousness of the injury he was carrying which only worsened it and he was sidelined for basically the whole season. Krunic has more title contribution than this guy.
What point are you trying to make?
Just because they won the scudetto all of a sudden they are not average players?
Average players played hard, overachieved and won
I’m making a point that he is talking out of his a## yet again only to make himself more important in front of the yankees. If anything, the team won despite of him, since he is so toxic the moment he enters the locker room. The even though some players were average, most of them weren’t. That’s complete BS.
Were you in that locker room that he according to you made so toxic? No. Listen to the players from that 2021-22 team that shared that locker room with him, anyone who has talked of him since has praised him. And if most of them weren’t average, why is Tonali the only player from that squad that has advanced in his career since? Maybe you can make an argument for Diaz. Giroud can be excused, his age considered.
What difference does it make whether they amazing, average or sh*te they won the Scudetto?
You seem to enjoy rating players more than watching them.
The scudetto was obviously zingaro’s doing
You think it was Pioli’s? LMAO
Pioli was getting smashed 5-0 by Atalanta before the gypsy came along
It’s obvious that Ibra was the real coach of that team
He threatened to kick these guys @sses
He was always good at dominating the league when he was in the dressing room
You’re probably a Maldini orphan too
He wasn’t even playing, he was injured most of the Scudetto season? About 3 points came from his goals directly.
Some of these “average” players were better than him in 21/22.
BTW where was he is the second half of the season ? Because I only recall seeing average players and not him.
He is a great striker, but a shameless and disrespectful human being.
If you read Ibrahimovic words and not be led by the narrative the author here is trying to push, Ibra is talking about his 2nd spell at Milan, he isn’t mentioning the scudetto season. Milan changed when he showed up in January. Prior to that Milan was trash with those same average players and same directors.
Not sure how his second spell doesn’t include the 21/22 season.
No one can deny the impact he had when he arrived in january 2020, but many of the scudetto players weren’t even there by then, that include Tonali (granted he was trash in 2020/21 but still a pillar after that), Giroud (who will actually take over when Ibrahimović when he got injured), Kjaer who will come at the same as him, Tomori, Kalulu, Messias, Díaz, Florenzi (who was also a leader in some ways), Saelemakers & Maignan. The other players who were then in 2019 and who will remain till 2022 were mostly young at that time and just needed inspiration.
Great leaders will never call their former teammates average, even if it’s sometimes true, but what one can expect from Zlatan’s ego.
All you do is proving Zlatan’s point. You keep naming players who are/were what? AVERAGE. Tonali, Kjaer, Kalulu, Tomori, Messias, Florenzi, Diaz, Saelemaekers = average and below average.
Are you mad as Zlatan being who he has always been an Egomaniac, or are you mad because he told the truth that those players were average? You responded to my comment where I agreed with Zlatan that those players were average.
Some of the players I’ve named weren’t average in 21/22. I don’t care how their careers went after that, before that or if you want to call it “overachievement”, but as a player you either play well or you didn’t. And Ibrahimović wasn’t exactly a level beyond that in that season.
And yes when someone tries to hog all the glory for himself and downplay his own teammates achievement especially when he himself had ONE goal in the entire 2022 year it should be called out for what it is. Bro talks like he is Platini in 1984 or Maradona in 1986.
Who wasn’t average?
Milan highest scorers were Leao and Giroud with 11 goals. Zlatan played probably a third of the season and had 8 goals.
Kjaer missed 75% of the season because of torn ACL.
Brahim was so bad he was benched for Krunic.
Kalulu was barely a bench player until the last few months of the season.
Florenzi a bench player.
Saelemaekers average player.
Messias. Come on.
Tomori average player.
Tonali average player.
That team was average players who played hard and played as a team, which led them to a title. After the scudetto win, what has any of those players done in football? Where are they now? What were they before the scudetto win?
Zlatan’s arrival and his pressure, demands on the team and the players changed Milan and led Milan to a title a year or so later.
Zlatan patting himself on the shoulder is who he is but he is also telling the truth. No lies told.
How can a team win a scudetto if no player wasn’t at least above average ?
Giroud scored 11 goals and had 4 assists in under 2000 minutes. He started in only 22 games out of 38. Leão had 11 goals with no penalty and 10 assists, for a 22 y/o winger that’s pretty good.
Tonali had a good season in 21/22. Come on.
Tomori was considered good by then. It’s only starting from next season that he became to crumble.
Funny you didn’t mention Maignan, Kessié or Hernandez.
And again what did Zlatan do in that season, that puts him above the others ?
“Where are they now? What were they before the scudetto win?”
Again this is irrelevant.
Zlatan had a great impact starting from 2020, but he wasn’t always there and at some point you gotta hand it to the players on the pitch, not on the ones on the bench or the infirmery.
Milan have been so bad for about 15 years that the bar is set so low for some fans.
You are stuck on the scudetto season. He said in his 2nd spell he played with average players. But you keep talking about what he did during the scudetto season. 8 goals and 3 assists in 1000 minutes at age 40 scudetto season. The season before that one 15 goals and 2 assists in 19 games. In 19/20 10 goals and 5 assists in 18 games after arriving in January. But you are out here trying to prove that Giroud and Leao 11 goals for an entire season are not average.
Average players win trophies all the time.
Napoli won the scudetto last season with nothing but average players. McTominay was the MVP of the league. Average player.
You are grasping at straws trying to turn 11 goals as above average production.
Maignan was great in the scudetto season but he is an average goalkeeper.
Kessie is just an average midfielder who runs a lot.
Theo hernandez had few good games.
If they were so great how come they don’t play in top team around Europe. Barca discarded Kessie after 1 season. No one in Europe wanted Theo last summer. Chelsea didn’t want to pay a cent over 15 mil for Maignan.
An average player can have a great game, a great season, but he is still average player.
Tomori was a bench player at Chelsea who had a good year and a half in bum ass serie A. Still an average player.
“Milan have been so bad for about 15 years that the bar is set so low for some fans.”
The past is irrelevant, we’re talking about ATG players here. Average, good or bad is compared to what is currently present in serie A.
11 goals in 22 games and roughly 1900 minutes for Giroud translates to 19-20 goals supposedly he played the entire season, that’s more than the current capocannoniere the “great” Martínez.
Most of your arguments about why these players are average are them not being purchased by top EPL teams or la Liga teams, but by serie A standards they were good and since we’re talking scudetti, that’s all that really matters.
As for Napoli, you mentions McTominay but didn’t mention that since Kvaratskhelia left they won 9 out of 18 games and would have lost if Inter didn’t bottle the scudetto. And I’m sure even you would agree that Khvicha was above average.
The past is irrelevant, we’re NOT* talking about ATG players here.
Maybe it was Kjaer? Or Asmir Begovic? 😀 Or Saelemakers? Maybe Tomori that joined during the winter break in Scudetto season and started most games until the end? Anyone can claim stupit sh*t, the reality is that “average team” won. Not Ibrahimovic that was injured.
You are absolutely correct, they name all of these average players and say Ibra is crazy for saying that. Giroud was the only quality player with a wordclass reputation, everyone else was unproven, young, or washed up.
None of them were better than him
Leao and Giroud scored a few more goals than him but they also played more matches than him
On average Ibra was better than them, and Ibra was 40 years old
Sorry that your poorly assembled Maldini team that you worship so much was cr*p
What do you guys expect from him in a media appearance? That he would change his Chuck Norris self perception, that he half-believes half-uses to keep his ‘Ibra brand’?
Out of context it sounds bad, but when you compare his teammates during both his stunts with our jersey, you can’t really use more than ‘average’ for the second spell. It’s offensive comment but truthful. He has the right to brag about his influence as well as it was more than clear he was highly regarded and leader of the team since day 1.
This has nothing to do with his current impact.
Well you can because they won the f’ing Scudetto!
Your opinion of those players or the opinion of Ibra is completely irrelevant and also shows a basic lack of understanding of the meaning of the word “average”.
No, put your head in the ground as much as you like it. I don’t mean to be offensive in any way and you can’t be delusional to not agree.
During his first tenure, he played with Thiago Silva, Nesta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Inzaghi, Kevin Prince in his prime to name a few. Yes, big portion of these players were in the end of their careers, but Ibra was one of the many.
During his second tenure he played along with Theo, Tonali, Kessie, Hakan, Leao, Giroud – handpicking the best overall, but none of them was even in their prime in 2020-2021 (apart from Kessie), and none of them has reached the level of their counterparties 10 years prior to that. No, Giroud in his late 30s is a lightyear ahead of Inzaghi overall, but that’s the only exception here.
You are right, great respect for all players who won our latest Scudetto, but especially because they outperformed themselves. We had our own and better Galactico star-studded team in Berlusconi’s years that never seemed to care too much about Serie A, while dominating Europe.
What the guys did a few years back is tremendous and Ibra (no matter our opinion on his personality or his managerial decisions now) had great impact on the team. You have to give respect where it’s due and 2 things can be true at the same time.
Worthless scudetto won thanks to Inter bottling it
Inter won scudetto in recent years and went on to be smacked across the face in the CL final vs PSG
Winning scudetto is not even a barometer for quality anymore, let alone when you barely win it thanks to opposition choking
Not that we would have ever been in the position of winning it if it weren’t for Zingaro screaming at these losers to bite their heads off
And even in that season gypsy contributed to about 30% of the goals scored
Look at 2022/23, he got injured and then all of a sudden we end up in 5th place and only got lucky Juve got penalized
Snackpåsen Zlatan levererar
The silent one is the leader here. Zlatan was put there by Signore Maldini. He was made to feel like a leader, and he delivered. He is right to praise himself, but dont forget who got you there.
Signore Maldini
LMAOOOOOOOOO
Signore Maldini f*cked the season by appointing Giampaolo and then bald fraud, and then had to beg the gypsy to save his @ss
I hope you Maldini cultists all die
You are not true Milan fans
What an egomaniac…
And maybe he should’ve said he was on a team with average players. Because I didn’t see much actual playing from Ibra.
Ridiculous take anyway. There were a lot of good to excellent players on that team. Giroud, Tonali, Theo, Rafa, Kessie, Mike. Not of them were average then.
He’s a moron
He had some fine stats for minutes played that year a bit something like Jovic’s but lets get real here he played 1000 minutes in that Scudetto season.
If his head an ego was any bigger he would fly away as a blimp.
He played 1000 minutes and still scored almost as many goals as Leao and Giroud, at 40
He is right, the team was average
In fact he’s being nice, because the team was horrendous and you fodder simps who worship that garbage need your @sses beaten and to be expelled from the fanbase because it’s due to your fodder loving mentality that Milan is in the place it’s now
And he’s been part of the problem ever since.
Helped put the club right in the crapper. Snubbed Conte, chose Fonseca and then Conceicao.
If you want to take credit, take some blame too. Haven’t heard any of that.
Yeah he’s cr*p as manager/shareholder
Fonseca/Conc weren’t even supported by the club
And he’s now renewing Kirovski
But he’s right about his playing days
Yep, this is what we needed to replace Furlani. Someone who is going to lift the club by making sure that every player who isn’t Ibrahimovic knows they’re garbage.
Oliver Giroud played in 3 world cups for France…That is not average
Theo, Rafa, and Tonali, were all considered some of the best young players in the world and all had sky high valuations after the scudetto season…that is not average.
Mike Maignan (Thank you Luigi) has never been average.
Also, I nearly coughed up my lunch when I read this “because you no longer have the same ego as before.” He said this right after giving himself credit for personally pushing all the average players on Milan to play like a scudetto winning team. It is so hard to like this guy when he is not banging in goals
So what if he played 3 WCs for France?
Giroud was never world class
But then again zingaro was talking about the whole second spell
Even if you consider Giroud good, he scored 11 goals in 2021/22 with significant amount of more matches than Ibra(who was 40) who scored 8
Theo, Rafa are jokes
Tonali overrated
Maignan hit or miss, he was cr*p for many seasons
Donnarumma was and still is a better keeper
What a narcissist. I never liked this mercenary a bit. Bounced club to club and talked trash about every single one after he left. How can a professional ex player, some sort of manager talk trash about his former teammates??!!! “Average players” is very offensive to his teammates. Even kjaer was more of a leader on the field than this mercenary. And yet gerry trusts this guy, no class, to bring in good managers. The good news is redbird ship will sink in a couple of years and sell out of desperation. He keeps trusting the wrong people.
Kjaer lmao
I hope you losers leave this fanbase
He was injured and out whole year when we won scudato and now he is bragging
Average 🤡
Look at all these whiny babies complaining about Ibra’s personality in the comments. Feel free to upload your resume for us to compare to Zlatan’s. Milan has had nothing but average players over the past 10 years, with very little exceptions (e.g., Giroud). He is absolutely right.
His resume says Football player.
You are impressed by that? 😂😂😂😂😂
*for the past 14 years to be exact
Yea I wouldn’t say it like that. But he is a top footballler so he might be giving his opinions based on who he’s played with over his very long career. While he’s in a position to give such assessments, I personally wouldn’t describe my teammate like that even if I was actually better than them
What a tw@t