After Romelu Lukaku sealed a 4-2 victory for Inter in February’s Milan derby, the Belgian striker declared: “There’s a new king in town.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic bided his time before finally finding himself in in the perfect position to reply last Saturday week.
“Milano never had a king,” the Swede argued after netting both goals in AC Milan’s 2-1 win over Inter at San Siro, “they have a GOD.”
It was a bombastic statement entirely in keeping with Ibrahimovic’s public persona – but it is easy to understand why the forward has a ‘Messiah Complex’.
He cast himself as a saviour when he returned to San Siro in January, and has been performing miracles ever since. At 39 years of age, he has emerged as the most influential character in Serie A.
“In Italy, he has shifted the balance more than Cristiano Ronaldo,” former Milan and Juventus coach Alberto Zaccheroni told Il Giornale earlier this week.
“It is no coincidence that many young players have grown exponentially since his arrival.”
And Zaccheroni is right. It is hardly Ronaldo’s fault that he has not had as big a sporting impact on Juventus, of course. He joined a team that had already won seven successive Serie A titles; two more Scudetti were considered a formality.
Ibra has yet to win a trophy in his second stint at Milan but has had a transformative effect on an entire club; one that has not participated in the Champions League since 2014.
And while his numbers are impressive (12 goals and five assists in Serie A in 2020), it is his influence on the dressing that has been truly incredible.
Milan have the youngest squad in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues – Ibrahimovic’s experience has, thus, proven invaluable. Team-mates have been lining up to praise the striker for the way in which he leads by example in each and every training session.
Fabio Capello, though, is not in the least bit surprised that Ibrahimovic is still playing at 100 per cent.
“Zlatan is a particular player,” the former Milan and Juve coach told Gazzetta dello Sport last week. “He unites an elevated level of professionalism with a larger-than-life personality.
“He manages to be decisive even at 39 because he doesn’t play to participate; he plays to win. A champion like him is a driving force for the entire group.
“The youngest players at Milan see Ibra working at the maximum in training and they think: if someone like him works so hard during the week, we cannot hold back.”
Still, to solely credit Ibrahimovic with responsibility for the Rossoneri’s resurgence would do a great disservice to countless others at a club where everyone is pulling in the same direction for the first time in years.
When Marco Giampaolo was sacked last October, Milan were a mess, 13th in the Serie A standings, with their entire project in serious danger of total collapse – again.
CEO Ivan Gazidis began thinking about entrusting almost sole control of the sporting side of the club to Ralf Rangnick, the mastermind behind Red Bull’s footballing empire.
Stefano Pioli was, thus, considered nothing more than a stop-gap solution; a safe pair of hands tasked only with restoring stability before the German’s belated arrival for the start of the 2020-21 season. (Goal.com)
