Ibrahimovic turns 40: an eternal winner at the foot of the canyon

“Ibrahimovic is eternal”. Milan coach Stefano Pioli perfectly summed up what we all imagine when Zlatan appears on the pitch. He no longer does it with the constancy he would like, because, as he has recognized, “He is not Superman”, but the Swede never gives the feeling that he is thinking of retiring despite the 40 years he celebrates today.

To review his career is to read the numbers of a born winner, a piece of football history. And okay, he has not won the Champions League, but measuring such a great talent with that alone is unfair. Neither did Maradona. His impressive record speaks clearly: two leagues, one Cup and one Super Cup in the Netherlands, four Scudetti and three Super Cups in Italy, two Super Cups and one Spanish League, four Ligue1, three Super Cups, three League Cups and two French Cups, one Community Shield and one League Cup in England, a UEFA Super Cup, a Europa League, a Club World Cup … And to those titles, we must add a huge list of records. No one, for example, has managed to win 11 leagues in four different countries, and no one at 38 years and 302 days had scored 10 goals in a Serie A course.

He has played 836 club games so far, scoring 503 goals, and 118 for Sweden, with 62 goals. He never won the Ballon d'Or, but with his usual impudence he said he doesn't miss it: “Rather, I think it's the opposite”. He knew how to play with his character, mixing the huge ego he formed in the complicated neighborhood where he grew up (“You can get the boy out of Rosengard but you can't get Rosengard out of the boy”) with a great deal of self-irony. Her facet of ‘God’ took her to the stage of the Ariston theater during the Sanremo festival, although there he also showed his most human side, with an unexpected shyness. That he really liked.

Is that, perhaps, the best side of Zlatan is the one that is not seen. Beyond the controversies, the fights (the threats with Van der Vaart, the punches with Onyewu, the very hard face to face with Lukaku), those who work with Ibrahimovic relate a unique boy. It is no coincidence that, since their return, Milan came out of their crisis, managed to dream of the Scudetto again and qualified for the Champions League seven years later.

As he confessed to AS Brahim Díaz, who considers him “an older brother”, the Swede makes a difference “whether he plays or not” only with his presence, his professionalism, his desire and his ability to create a united and unbreakable group. The last sample of that came just with his birthday, celebrated two days in advance because he was able to do it with everyone who works in Milanello, something that today would have been impossible.

To see him on the pitch again we will have to wait for the break to pass, and there is no doubt: he will continue to be decisive, as he has been at Malmoe, Ajax, Juve, Inter, Barça, PSG, Manchester United, the LA Galaxy and Milan, where he has scored 29 goals in the 48 games he has played since his return in 2020. Watching him play prolongs the youth of those who have admired him in the last 20 years. Well, hopefully it will be eternal, as Pioli says.