Zlatan Ibrahimovic has declared that despite playing in several different countries and clubs during his career, Milan is where he feels ‘at home’.
The Milan striker is preparing for his return to the team, after the calf injury that kept him out in the final few games of 2020, with some speculation that the Swede will return in the middle of January.
In the meantime the team are coping well in his absence as they have remained top of the table, having prevailed in the last two games before Christmas, the latter being a thrilling 3-2 win over Lazio.
Sportweek spoke to the 39-year-old and asked him to discuss his future at Milan and the many targets he is still setting himself.
“It’s me Santa Claus, I’m the one who brings gifts to all my 27 children: two are in Sweden and the other 25 at Milanello. This year many compliments, for what we have done and for what we are doing,” he said (via MilanLive).
“We have lost very few. I don’t know if it’s thanks to me, but I did something, I brought something inside. When I arrived last January, Milan were twelfth. Now we have reached the top, we are proving to be part of the top and now we have to continue like this.”
On his love for Milan, he added: “I have played for many clubs, in Milan is where I feel at home. I go to Milanello every morning and I’m not in a hurry to go home, because I’m home. I felt like this the first time I came to Milan, it was 2010. With Galliani and Berlusconi, with the team, everyone who worked there, there was another feeling, another atmosphere.
“This is why Milan is the top of the top for me. In Milan I have many friends, it will not be strange for me to live there even when I have stopped playing: in these ten years it has grown a lot, it is very international, I like it.”
On the lack of the Ballon d’Or: “I would not exchange my 12 Guldbollen [the Swedish Ballon d’Or] for one from France Football. Because for me they mean consistency.
“I have seen many who have won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, even the Ballon d’Or, they had a wonderful, fantastic year, then they disappeared. Instead I have been in the game for 25 years. Always at the top.”
Finally, Ibrahimovic went on to discuss the targets he is setting for the Rossoneri this season.
“Victory is my drug, when I’m on the pitch I have to win. I have a percentage of 95% of games won even in training. When I lose it shows, but it doesn’t happen often because I don’t lose. The team also understood this, as in the draw with Parma: six months ago they would have been happy, but this time they were all pissed off and the next day they still were.
“So it must be. I have won in all the clubs where I have played, but this year with Milan is certainly the best and most difficult challenge of my career. And let’s see how it will end, because if something comes back to me it will be the best victory, the best I’ve done. I’m not afraid to dream that we can do it.”
