Ibrahimovic says goodbye to football in tears: “The time has come”

Kudos to Milan Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will leave football. The Swedish striker is leaving after a campaign in which he was only briefly trained four times due to a knee injury, but his role at the Milan club in this second phase always went beyond football.

This time, Ibra failed to maintain his character and collapsed. A sea of ​​tears flooded his eyes when he took the microphone to say goodbye to his family, with heartfelt last words to his fans and teammates, who for the occasion dressed in a T-shirt with his name on it and made a corridor for him at San Siro to say goodbye to him .With honors.

“The time has come for me to say goodbye to football, not to you. You welcomed me with open arms, I will be a Milanist for the rest of my life,” he said from the center of the San Siro pitch, saying goodbye to fans and teammates.

“The first time I was in Milan, you gave me joy, the second time you gave me love. I thank my family for their patience, then the other family, i.e. the players and the coach and his professional staff. I also thank the managers for the opportunity they gave me. I also thank the fans who welcomed me with open arms from the bottom of my heart. I will be a Milan fan all my life“, he added.

San Siro’s Last Tribute 𠙕𠙡𠙖𠙩𠙖𠙣 ð ™„ð ™—ð ™§ð ™–ð ™ ð ™žð ™¢ð ™¤ð ™«ð ™ žð ™˜Ì 🌟#AlwaysMilan pic.twitter.com/9XTYZ0QtNt

— AC Milan (@acmilan) June 5, 2023

The Swede retired from football after 988 games and 573 goals in all the clubs he was in and his national team. Ibra, what? he will turn 42 in October, leaves Milan as a true myth even after a season away from the spotlight, but in which his role as a transcendental figure in the dressing room was impeccable. Always appreciated, both by the players and by the coaching staff, he led the historic season last year, 2021-22, of the ‘Scudetta’ champions to the top after 13 years without winning the title.

“His role has always been that of a great motivator and a great player, I hope he will continue like that,” said his coach, Italian Stefano Pioli, on February 10, at the first call of the season.

And she is that before that day against Torino, in which he did not even play, Ibra was recovering from the knee surgery he underwent at the end of last season. The Swedish striker played on May 22, 2022 against Sassuolo, the last game of the 2021-22 season. 13 years later Milan was crowned Scudetto champion of his last conquest.

Three days after that game, Ibra underwent surgery on his left knee, an intervention that kept him out of action for eight months.

A fruitful career

In 1999, Ibrahimović made his debut in Swedish Malmo, from where he made the jump to ajax Dutch in 2001. After four seasons, he left for Italy, where he was a member Juventus (2004-2006) and Between (2006-2009) before going to Barcelona (2009-2010) He returned to Italy to start his first stage in the Milan (2010-2012), although he left for psg (2012-2016), at Manchester Utd (2016-18) and on galaxy of angels (2018-2019) before closing the cycle in the Rossoneri team with four seasons in a row.