AC Milan veteran striker who is 40 years old, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, spoke to Corriere della Sera in a long interview and said the following:
In which language do you think?
"It depends. On the pitch, never in Swedish: it's too kind a language, and on the pitch you need nastiness. So I think in Slavic. Sometimes in English and Italian. But in the family we do Swedish things, such as taking off our shoes before entering the house, we stay with the socks. We have no service personnel: there is a lady for the cleaning, we do the rest ourselves. I am Swedish, but I am also a mix: my mother is Croatian and Catholic, my father is Bosnian and Muslim, I have lived most of my career in Italy."
Do you believe in afterlife?
"No. This is life. When you are dead, you are dead. I don't even know if I want a funeral or a tomb, a place to make those who loved me suffer. Superstitious? No. I don't like it when they say "good luck". I do not need. I decide how it should go."
Ibrahimovic as a child...
"A child who has always suffered. As soon as I was born, the nurse made me fall from a meter high. I have suffered all my life. At school I was different: the others were blond with light eyes and a thin nose, I dark, brown, with a big nose. I spoke differently from them, I moved differently from them. My classmates' parents petitioned to kick me off the team. I've always been hated. And at the beginning I reacted badly."
On being called a 'gypsy':
"The last time it happened in Rome. For the exultation after a goal. Fifty thousand people yelled at me as a gypsy, and the referee warned me. If Italy is a racist country? Racism is everywhere, even in Sweden."
How were you with the girls?
"Very shy. On the first date I had written down all the things to say; if the girl was talking about something else, I would ask her the question I had written down all the same. A painful experience. I did everything much later than my peers. Making love for the first time? At the age of 17 because at the age of seventeen for the first time I left the Malmoe ghetto and went downtown. Only then did I discover the Swedes as you imagine them: blondes, free. In the ghetto the girls had short hair and veils."
What was the goal that gave you the most happiness?
"Perhaps the overhead kick from thirty meters, in the national team, against England. The English have always despised me, they said that I never scored against them..."
On calling France a s**t country:
"Marine Le Pen asked for my expulsion. The next day I feared the reactions on the street. Instead, the French approached me to congratulate: 'Ibrahimovic, you're right, it is a s**t country."
Is it true that your children hate football?
"«I used to take them to dribble: one was crying, the other was watching the birds. Now they both play soccer. They went to the audition with their mother's name, Seger. They took them. Maxi has chosen to be called Ibrahimovic. Vincent has yet to decide."
How do you remember the war in Yugoslavia?
"My father was in a lot of pain. Every day news came of the death of a person he knew. He helped refugees. But he tried to keep me safe. He always tried to protect me. When his sister died in Sweden, he didn't let me go to the morgue. However, when my brother Sapko died of leukemia, I was there. And my brother waited for me, he stopped breathing in front of me. We buried him with the Muslim rituals. Dad didn't shed a tear. The next day he went to the cemetery and cried from morning to night. Alone."
You changed a lot...
"I didn't have girls not only because I was shy, but because I was in love with myself. In games I was looking for the circus act, because I had a bigger ego than all the Swedes put together. I changed in Italy. I said to my wife, Helena: come on let's try, come with me to Turin, let's see if it works. It worked."
Who changed Ibrahimovic in Italy:
"Capello taught me to watch the goals and he slaughtered me, all the time. A very tough man. The first day, after the press conference, the celebrations and everything, I enter the locker room, he is reading 'La Gazzetta dello Sport'and I am excited and I say: "Good morning, mister!". He doesn't put down the newspaper. I stay there for a quarter of an hour, with the newspaper in front of my face. Then Capello gets up, closes the paper and just leaves without saying a word, as if I didn't exist."
On Luciano Moggi (former Juventus director):
"With me, he was the best."
But two titles were removed from Juventus because of Moggi...
"We won those scudetti, and nobody can take them away from us. Nobody can erase the sweat, the fatigue, the suffering, the injuries, the goals. For this reason, when they say that I have won eleven league titles in my career, I correct them: there are thirteen. Moggi was awe-inspiring, though not me. Like Berlusconi."
What do you think of Berlusconi:
"Too nice. One Sunday I'm in the stands at San Siro, he makes me sit next to him. Then he says to me: 'Ibra, do you mind climbing a place? A very important person is coming'. I climb, also Galliani climbs. I thought that some politician is coming. Instead a beautiful woman arrives, in impressive heels. Berlusconi winks at me: 'Very important person.' And maybe it really was for him."
On his incident with Materazzi:
"He came in from behind to hurt; and we footballers understand immediately when one enters to hurt or simply enters hard, like Chiellini, like Stam, like Maldini... Materazzi? I had an incident with him and and I paid for it in the Derby, He enters with his feet up, I jump, avoid him, and hit him with an elbow to the temple. Pippo Inzaghi commented: 'The best derby of my life: 1-0, goal from Ibra, Materazzi in hospital.' Obviously he was joking", declared Ibrahimovic.
On Paolo Maldini:
"Paolo Maldini was very rough. If he wanted to hurt you, he knew how to do just that, but he avoided it. He put his just wickedness at the service of the team."
What happened with Lukaku?
"Derby in Coppa Italia, he quarrels first with Romagnoli, then with Saelemaekers; I intervene to defend my teammates, and Lukaku attacks me on a personal level. A little shocked. We had been team mates at Manchester United."
But before, you offered him a bet, £50 for each wrong touch of the ball...
"It was a way to improve him (Ibra laughs). And anyway, he didn't accept the bet. Lukaku has a big ego, he is convinced that he is a champion, and he is really strong. But I grew up in the Malmoe ghetto, and when someone comes under me with their heads down, I put them in their place. So I hit him at his sweet spot: Mummy's rituals. And he has lost control. Even if I have an atrocious doubt left. We lost the derby and I got a red card. Then I got injured. A lot of bad things have happened. Do you want to see that the Lukaku rite really did it to me? So I asked my believing friends to pray for me. I have to settle the bill with him too. I hope to meet him soon. These are things that must be resolved on the pitch. I don't hate anyone, much less Lukaku. Hate is a demanding sentiment."
What do you think of the Juventus investigation?
"It is only at the beginning, it is too early to judge. I can tell you that I am very careful about taxes, budgets, money, I pay well for the people who take care of them."
Ibrahimovic on Mino Raiola:
"I'll tell you an episode. In Manchester I break my knee. I leave the field with my legs, I refuse the painkillers, I think it's nothing. Instead, my crusader is in pieces, tendons, muscles are detached: a disaster. Mino begins to receive phone calls from Italian and other foreign surgeons who wanted to operate on me. We study it and we see that the best in the world is Freddie Fu, an American doctor originally from Hong Kong, who works in Pittsburgh; but for an appointment you have to wait months. A few days later Mino calls me: “Ibra packs your bags, we're off to Pittsburgh”. We land at 4 in the morning and go straight to the hospital. The legendary Professor Freddie Fu was waiting for us under the entrance with his staff. At 4 in the morning."
Messi or Ronaldo for you?
"Both very strong. I say Messi also because we played together. Messi is a professional, we lived together. But Lewandowski deserved the Ballon d'Or this year."
On Guardiola:
"He never understood me. He wanted to plan everything I had to do. An instinctive gesture came to me, but then I thought about what Guardiola wanted, and I changed. So I thought double. Guardiola does not like personality players. I had become a problem; and since he couldn't solve it, I solved it by leaving."
On his clash with Allegri:
"We had lost 3-0 to Arsenal, and he was all happy. It is true that we had passed the shift, but there was nothing to laugh about, and I pointed it out to him. For fear, he brought two goalkeepers on the bench. Allegri is very good at managing the locker room, but he had to have more courage: to go to Real Madrid, to compete with abroad . Instead he made the comfortable choice."
Will you be a coach?
"I don't know, it's so stressful ... I'll do something that will give me adrenaline. But as long as I hold up, I play the center forward. I want to play for the Scudetto until the last day. And go to the World Cup in Qatar."
On Gattuso:
"With Rino we charged each other. He called me "ugly Slav", I put him upside down in the garbage can", said Ibrahimovic.
On his return to AC Milan:
"At first, no one was running in training. I faced my teammates one by one, in front of everyone. In training, you have to kill yourself with work. If I run, if I kill myself, my teammate must do the same. Everyone understood, except one: Rafael Leao. At first he didn't listen to me. But he came to this conclusion on his own. And it shows, he has progressed a lot", said Ibrahimovic.
