AC Milan will be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the field once again for the derby against Inter, but they will rely on his presence around the team.
Calciomercato.com report that Ibrahimovic will watch the last derby of his career from the stands, given that he would not even be able to play if the two Milan clubs meet in the later Champions League knockout rounds as he was excluded from the squad.
When he returned to the club in the 2019-20 season Zlatan helped a fragile young group recover mentally and helped engineer a turnaround in results. Milan managed to run on their own, but now the Rossoneri are experiencing the worst moment of the Pioli era in terms of results and performances, so the coach asks for Ibrahimovic’s help again.
“I talk to him every day, I think he’s talked to his teammates. As always, he knows how to approach the right situations,” Pioli said at his pre-match press conference.
The Rossoneri fans obviously hope that the Swede has managed to strike the right chord to motivate the team and make them believe they can really win a derby, because while the Scudetto might be out of reach the minimum objective of a top four finish is now on the line.
Gone are the days when the Swede added assists and goals to his words, but he must still have an impact on Milan with his experience and his mentality, because the team really need it right now.
