Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan veteran striker, has granted an interview to Repubblica and these are his statements:
“If you don't score, you don't win. It is one of my responsibilities: to score. . I feel like a leader on the pitch, my teammates follow me: ten years ago there was another situation and another group. This is very young, but with work and sacrifice the results come. We must continue, so far we have not done anything. The important thing is not to stop."
On the objectives:
"Champions League? It is still early, the second in the standings is always the first of the last. I have to aim for the maximum, to bring out the best in myself and in others. I am not interested in the winter championship but in the real title at the end of the season."
On the confrontation at Milanello with Gazidis:
"We were blocked by the lockdown and the team didn't know anything about the future. I was looking for answers, I was not the only one. We felt judged before we could actually do something. Rangnick? There was talk of a person who wasn't there. There was a lack of certainties, but they arrived with Pioli's confirmation."
On the relationship with Pioli:
"It's a professional relationship, he's the coach and I'm the player. He has faith in me and makes me feel good. He is a great gentleman. It was not easy for him, yet he never gave up. He was elegant, someone else would have quit. His message was to always look ahead."
Who is the best between Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo?
"Let the others judge. I have a responsibility to my team, and he also has a responsibility to his team. Everyone tries to be the best. As long as I'm okay, I'll keep going. I've always been honest, I don't want to put anyone in a situation they can't get out of. "
On playing almost a 1000 games:
" I didn't know I had played all these games. It means I'm old. I do not want to think about it. The challenge today is to be in a very young team, different from what I am used to. I like it a lot, it gives me even more satisfaction than when I was winning."
On Covid-19:
"When they told me I was positive, I wanted to understand what this Covid is. Closed at home, I waited for the symptoms: headache and back pain, lost taste after 4-5 days, something new every day. I never had a fever: it was more mental, time passed slowly. At home I couldn't train as before, I got tired immediately. Maybe we will have to live with Covid, when everything returns to normal, we do not know if we will greet each other in the same way, if we will go to the gym as before. Every year they mature and I'm almost 40. You wouldn't say it, but it's the truth."
On the appearance at Sanremo:
"This is not the time to talk about it, we'll do it that week. The music I like? It is a mix. Hammarby? Taken for talents and for changing the type of Swedish footballer. Which is not Ibra, I want more Ibrahimovic in Sweden. Roback is another type of Swedish player: he has talent, speed, technique. Every now and then he trains with the first team: he will get there, if he trains well."
The experience in MLS and the new challenge in Milan:
"In the US I discovered that I am still alive in the world of football. After the injury with Manchester United, in the first year in LA I wanted to find out if I still had the same European level. In the second I felt the same as before: either I set new goals or I stop. Mino Raiola told me that it was too easy to quit there, I asked him what the most difficult challenge was and he said that it is AC Milan."
"I like Chiellini, he is an animal and has a mentality that motivates you, you can never be sure that you have overcome him. I like fair duels, not dirty, not to hurt. Like those with Maldini, even if he says I have improved. I believe that today the difference is no longer made by the champion, but by the collective."
"It is normal that I am no longer what I was ten years ago, but I am doing useful things for the team. You don't lose quality at 30-35 years, you lose physically. Then it depends on your head, your realism and how much you train."
On the anecdote about the new playstation given to his teammates:
"It was a trick, I only told them afterwards that it was free, but that for those who had not put themselves on the list, it was late. I wanted to understand my teammates better, but now they run more for me (laughs)."
On the incident with Kalulu's gloves:
"It was his debut game and it was cold. But I told him to take them off right away. One who makes his debut so young must frighten his opponents: the first image is what counts."
On Donnarumma:
"That he stays at Milan is very important. He is the symbol who grew up at the Academy, he is the strongest goalkeeper in the world, he must be hungry and keep it up. When I see something extraordinary I say it. Of course, someone like this must also play in the Champions League."
On the National Team:
"It is not secret. if one is well at the World Cup, one thinks about it. Let's see. It always depends on how you are. I do not enter a group, except to add something."
On Atalanta:
"We will face Atalanta in the last fixture of the first half. They are doing great things thanks to the collective. When I left Serie A, the hierarchy was different. I came here to change things and put them back."
