Why Zlatan Ibrahimovic Is Missing Soccer
Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his retirement a year ago, and despite his role at Milan, he is missing the feeling of being out on the pitch.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic misses feeling "alive" following his retirement from professional football, but distanced himself from a coaching role.
Ibrahimovic, who is now an advisor to Milan's club's board, won 12 league titles during his illustrious 24-year career.
The Swede netted 496 goals in 827 appearances, with his 93 goals for Milan only bettered by his time with Paris Saint-Germain (156).
In an interview with The Athletic, Ibrahimovic quipped he could try his hand at any sport and have success, though conceded the buzz of being on the pitch is hard to replace.
He said: "I would be the best in every ball sport. Martial arts — I could challenge. I used to do taekwondo. With my feet, I’m fast, I move well. I had the advantage of being 1.97m tall, but moved like a guy of 1.60m.
"That’s why I was a freak of nature. This is not me trying to impress you. These are true facts. But I like the adrenaline of taekwondo. I like duels. I need to feel alive.
"That is the only thing I miss with football. It is not actually playing football. I just miss sometimes feeling… alive.
"Imagine you are in front of 80,000 people. If you were so small, you would get so big. And imagine if you can get 80,000 to bounce or you can make them cry. This is who I was."
Milan, 19-time Serie A champions, will be under new management this season, with Paulo Fonseca arriving from Lille following the departure of Stefano Pioli.
Ibrahimovic says he attends first-team training sessions regularly, but when asked about becoming a coach, he said: "No.
"You see my grey hair?. Fully grey hair is after one week as a coach. A coach's life is up to 12 hours per day.
"You absolutely don't have free time. My role is to connect everything; to be a leader from above and make sure the structure and organisation works. To keep everybody on their toes."
Ibrahimovic made 31 appearances in his final two seasons with Milan in all competitions, scoring nine times, but started just 12 of those games.
It paved the way for the likes of Rafael Leao to emerge onto centre stage, with Ibrahimovic concentrating on setting an example for the young players rather than his own personal gain.
"It depends on the person. I didn’t need to score one goal more or one goal less. It would not change my career," he added.
"It was more about preparing the future for the other ones because I believe this young generation needs a leader to follow.
"If you don’t have examples, especially when you’re playing at great clubs, who will show the way?
“I did it in a way where it was not about me, it was about the team. All these young guys that had never played in the Champions League and had never won.
"When you get older, you need to find trigger points. It’s not about contracts after 20 years. My trigger point was to show the path for the young team."
