Zlatan Ibrahimovic spoke in front of journalists at a hotel in New Jersey last night, and he was in his usual entertainer mood as he talked about his return to AC Milan among other topics.
The Athletic sent Adam Crafton to the event and he writes how Ibrahimovic walked into the bar and announced himself by stating: “I have only one restriction when I do interviews: when a journalist comes for an interview, he first must put on this outfit.”
He was pointing to the Milan mascot’s red devil costume resting on a nearby table, and after breaking the ice he added “My time is expensive. Let’s get going.”
When asked about whether he would practice for his first pitch at the New York Yankees game (which took place after the interview) he said ‘no’, and then he was asked which Olympic sports he think he would be best at.
“I would be the best in every ball sport. Martial arts — I could challenge. I used to do taekwondo. With my feet, I’m fast, I move well. I had the advantage of being 1.97m tall, but moved like a guy of 1.60m. That’s why I was a freak of nature.
“This is not me trying to impress you. These are true facts. But I like the adrenaline of taekwondo. I like duels. I need to feel alive. That is the only thing I miss with football. It is not actually playing football. I just miss sometimes feeling… alive.
“Imagine you are in front of 80,000 people, my friend. If you were so small, you would get so big. And imagine if you can get 80,000 to bounce or you can make them cry. This is who I was.”
Ibra is officially a Senior Advisor to the Milan board and to the owners RedBird Capital, which he describes ‘daily work’, adding: “I have a finger in many categories to bring results and bring up the value, all with an ambition to win.”
Not only that, but he gets to watch his son Maximilian rise through the ranks, who signed his first professional contract with the club over the summer, and his younger son Vincent is also in the youth sector. “The younger one is coming, but I keep silent,” Zlatan said.
Zlatan heads to watch training at Milanello twice a week but he suggested that his involvement is not too hands on: “But I’m not a babysitter. My players, they’re adults and they have to take responsibility. They have to do 200 per cent even when I’m not there.”
Asked whether he would like to try coaching, he responded: “You see my grey hair? Fully grey hair is after one week as a coach. A coach’s life is up to 12 hours per day. You absolutely don’t have free time.
“My role is connect everything; to be a leader from above and make sure the structure and organisation works. To keep everybody on their toes.”
The fact that he took up a role with RedBird and not just Milan is a nod to the fact that he wishes to learn about the business side of sport and not just to stick entirely to the field.
“I am curious about entertainment. But I only do things I believe in. I would not do it just to promote myself for nothing.”
Ibrahimovic returned to Milan after a spell in the MLS and he fulfilled his promise of guiding the club to their first league title since the last time he was there, in 2010-11.
“When I came the second time, it was more about giving than taking. I wanted to open the way for a new generation. You’re the example, saying, ‘Listen, this is how it works’. When you’re in Milan, it’s the elite of the elite: pressure, demands, obligations.
“You have to take responsibility, become a man, because a player is not only about the field, but also the person outside. I was the reference point. I didn’t have an ego about it. I was like some kind of… Guardian angel. So all the pressure would come onto me, not on them, but at the same time I pressured them.
“It depends on the person. I didn’t need to score one goal more or one goal less. It would not change my career. It was more about preparing the future for the other ones because I believe this young generation needs a leader to follow. If you don’t have examples, especially when you’re playing at great clubs, who will show the way?
“I did it in a way where it was not about me, it was about the team. All these young guys that had never played in the Champions League and had never won. When you get older, you need to find trigger points. It’s not about contracts after 20 years. My trigger point was to show the path for the young team.”
Has he ever felt insecurity? “No. It is because if I’m objective, I go all in, and then either you succeed or you fail. Is it a 50-50 chance? No, in my case, it’s 99-1. I will do everything to succeed. It’s all mental. I know how good I am. Even higher, actually, 99.9 per cent.
“It depends on you. I am sure about myself. The 0.1 per cent chance or 1 per cent chance (of failure) is depending on them. Either they follow or they go against, but whoever goes against, they fail. This time they followed. And we won.”
Speaking about his background, Zlatan made it clear that the upbringing he had in Rosengrad certainly sculpted the man that he is today.
“My parents gave me discipline. I was raised with my father, but I went to my mother every day. The first thing he taught me – it was discipline. And I followed this discipline until today. I give it to my children and to the team. When you have discipline, you are right.
“An easy example: if my father said to me, ‘Get home at night, 8pm’ then I didn’t go over one minute because I knew if I came one minute later, I would get punished. The punishment? In my world, it is aggression.
“Everybody has their different way of educating. In my family, it is the hard way. And they came from difficult backgrounds. And that is because I was born in Sweden and my parents met 10 years before the (Balkan) war, and then the war came into the picture. So the surroundings were very, very hard.”
Ibrahimovic was asked by the interviewer about his tattoos, with the claim that he had studied them prior to sitting down with the Swede.
“I don’t know if you learn a lot from my tattoos (laughs). But OK. Tell me my tattoos. Tell me the position and why.”
On the ‘Only God can judge me’ emblazoned across his ribcage, the former striker was asked if he is religious: “No. I believe in respect. So if I tell you, ‘only God can judge me’, who am I aiming at?”
The critics? “No.”
Yourself? He nods. “I’ll give you a perfect example. When my brother passed away, he had leukaemia. Where was God to help him? You thank God every day, you pray to God. But where was God now? In my world, you are your own God. That’s what I believe. And that’s my mindset.
“Tell me: why are they [more tattoos] on my back?” So you can’t see them? “Good,” he says, clapping his hands. “Because when you see them all the time, you get tired of them. This way, I will never get tired.”
Is that why he changed clubs often in his playing career, so as not to get bored of being in the same environment.
“No. Changing clubs is to test myself. I take my backpack and I come to your garden. Different culture, different language, away from home.
“In your own garden, your mother cooks for you, cleans your clothes, you have everything you want. You were raised and born there. So you’re in a comfort zone. I go away from my comfort zone and I test myself.”
On his second spell at Milan, he says the club ‘gave me happiness the first time and the second time, they gave me love’.
Who provided the kind of guidance and leadership that Ibrahimovic is hoping to instil in the younger players of the current sqyad?
“At Juventus, I had Fabio Capello. He was destroying me. But at the same time building me. [He would say] Today you were s***. Tomorrow you’re the best. And it would go like that.
“So when you think you’re the best, he would destroy you. Then it becomes confusion and you don’t know: ‘F***, am I really the best or am I s***?’ So when you were down, he was building you up. Did it work? I became the best. So, yes.
“Did I like it? I didn’t understand it. He made my head… like there was no balance. But it made me always give 200 per cent. He shaped me. But you also need an identity, culture and a tradition from the club, as well as a coach.
“A winner creates winners. Losers don’t create winners. That’s a culture. So when you come in the club, as a young talent or a player with potential, the club will shape you because you grow to understand the way a club works and the surroundings. At Milan, we want to create this in a positive way.”
On his time at Manchester United, he had some interesting reflections: “You’re just a number there, I felt. Then, in my mindset, I want to make my own history. I was not interested in what happened before, with all respect.
“Yes, that brings pressure to live up to what they were used to. But I was not interested in listening to the Class of ’92. That doesn’t help me because it’s not my team [that I support] and I wanted to do my own history. I wanted people to say, ‘You won and United won this together’.
“I was 35. I came to England. People said I’m too old, I should retire, blah blah blah. But this triggers me. This – I will prove you wrong. Jose was a machine. He brings the best out of you. He’s that person: manipulative. He knows how to get in your head. He knows how to treat you, independent of your level.
“He reminded me of Capello. But a newer version. Discipline. Hardcore. Intense. Not the soft types. This is what I like. Remember where I came from? My family is tough.”
Zlatan was asked about his family home and whether there is memorabilia from his playing days adorning the walls.
“Zero. You would only know from the materials [of the furniture] that I made money from playing. But I don’t have even one picture of me in my home. Because my partner [Helena] said, ‘We see you so much in general, I don’t need to see you at home’.
“So, zero pictures. If you go to my boys’ rooms, you will find some shirts from ex-players but ones they asked for. In the gym at our home, I put a famous picture of my two feet. That is for my family to know where everything comes from.
“I would like to build a museum at home because it’s part of my story, so I want to make something nice. But for the moment, she put it in the basement. (Grinning) So let’s see. It’s either the museum or it’s her. I have to think about it.”
How can you not like this guy!!!!