Zlatan Ibrahimovic formally retired from soccer on Sunday, on the age of 41. The Swedish striker’s contract with AC Milan expires on the finish of June and it’ll not be renewed. He returned to Milan for his second spell with the membership in early 2020. He gained the Scudetto with them in 2011 and once more helped them win the title final season.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic acquired an emotional farewell.

After their last Serie A match of the season towards Hellas Verona, Milan held a particular farewell ceremony for Zlatan on the San Siro. The match noticed Milan finish the season on a optimistic be aware with a 3-1 win, courtesy of targets from Oliver Giroud (45+2′), Rafael Leao (85′, 90+2′). In the meantime, Davide Faraoni (72′) scored the solitary objective for Verona.

Through the ceremony, Zlatan was welcomed by fixed cheering as many followers had been left in tears. Even Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali had an analogous response and even Zlatan could not management feelings. Through the ceremony, Zlatan mentioned, “I say goodbye to football but not to you.”

“The first time I arrived you gave me happiness, the second time you gave me love. I want to thank my family and those close to me for their patience”, he additional added.

Here’s a brief video of Zlatan’s emotional farewell:

The striker started his profession at Malmo FF in 1999 after which joined Ajax in 2001, earlier than having spells at Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Manchester United and AC Milan. He’s additionally Sweden’s all-time top-scorer with 62 targets in 121 matches. He stop the nationwide group after Euro 2016 after which made a comeback in 2021 throughout their unsuccessful 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying marketing campaign.

He additionally held a press convention relating to his retirement. Chatting with the media, he mentioned, “I thank the journalists for your patience, now you’ll have less work to do without me … From tomorrow, I am a free man from this world of football.”

“It was a long career, really long, thank you to everyone who gave me the strength, the adrenaline and the emotion to continue. For the moment, I just want to take some time and enjoy what I’ve done. It’s not right to make decisions in a hurry, there’s too much emotion right now. I want to take the summer off, reflect and then we’ll see.

“Unimaginable, there is just one Zlatan! As a toddler, they in contrast me to (former Netherlands striker) Marco van Basten, however he’s who he’s and I’m who I’m. There may be similarities, however I don’t assume comparisons are proper. I doubt we’d discover one other Zlatan with my ego. I couldn’t have dreamed of an evening like this. From the primary day, I felt at residence with Milan, the previous and the brand new model. After I depart right here, I’ll miss it a terrific deal. At the moment, they dragged the true Ibrahimovic out”, he additional added.