Each one played in their own generation, with different team-mates Difficult to compare. I am. But I am not trying to be perfect, I am simply myself. Your story and your career make you special, no? When you are bullied, the consequences can exist for the rest of their life. Are we wrong?

I just want people to recognise when I do something well. Are you missing the Ballon DOr, or is the history of the Ballon DOr missing you? But when I was young, that, you cannot understand that. I was lonely. My wife is 100% Swedish. I've had moments in my life where all I did was take, without giving back. The driver recognised him and told him he was a Milan fan. I dont need that. When talking about fear, when you become a parent, that increases even more no? (2:18). I have emotions, weak points, things that hurt me. You can be the best player in the world but if you cannot handle that pace and rhythm [you wont succeed]. That makes up who you are. Getting more money will not heal you. I worked hard but I did not have a lot of patience. For me, I have a private life, which is very important. Last year, when a jack-knifed truck caused an almighty traffic jam and left him in gridlock for three hours and late for a guest-host spot at the Sanremo Festival, Italy's highest-rated annual TV event, he did what only Zlatan might do. It would be prestigious to win it but it is the voters who decided. Certainly, today, do you get tired of the medias opinion, fan opinions, everyones opinion? We want to talk to you about retirement. I was young, stupid. They have much in common but Ibrahimovic chose to criticise James for making political statements. No. That in some way, it forced you to leave the side of the victim to enter the camp of the victors? The virus remains and he still gets caught up in controversy. That is my happiness now. Injuries have slowed him this year, but it's not as if he's just the old guy dispensing advice from the corner of the dressing room. - Don't have ESPN? If they win, it will be the 14th league title and the 24th major trophy of Zlatan's career. Could I do better? But I will do it again, 100%, Zlatan Ibrahimovic: The only thing that keeps me going is the adrenaline because every morning I have pain everywhere., ts not easy. "Because when it stops, what do you do? Because we are good for that. Simply because I am myself. Politicians divide. Everyone has the right to say what they think. Attack the one able to do something. Julie Foudy has 4 burning questions, Goalkeeper awards 2021-22: Best shot-stopper, most improved, breakout star and more. I am not scared to take on challenges. But that is part of a more global thing. Im present time. They bring the technical [aspect]., I also interviewed Ibrahimovic on 6 October 2014 his 33rd birthday. It is the world now. But there will be consequences for the future, that is for sure. In Spain, France, Italy, the technique is better.

Maybe on 6 months, a year, I will be someone else. I dont want to have that regret if I stop and then, in a couple of years, Im sitting with you and saying: I could have continued because I was feeling good. Its better to be totally finished and say: I cannot do it any more. But I can still do it and I am doing it.. People recognise you and you become famous. Nothing more I want to say, I was brought up like that, I have gone through my life, I have had my experiences, I have grown up. Nobody is perfect. I have started to see people. It depends on which prism you want to talk about. I dont need filters to ask them what kind of questions you will give me., His two seasons at Manchester United were partially successful and Ibrahimovic says: I had a great experience in England. Not arrogant, not pretentious.

Time flies., Its the first time Ibrahimovic has been separated from his family because he and his wife want their boys to be settled at school in Sweden. It wasn't necessarily the sort of high-press, high-octane football the club's owners and coach Stefano Pioli, who had taken over that October, wanted to play, but it got the job done. I see athletes with an entourage of 20 people whose job it is to create the perfect image of themselves. I dont know him personally. Keep working and believe in yourself.. When my favourite bike was stolen, I no longer stopped stealing those from others. That has consequences. You cannot talk about fear when you talk about children. Thats why there are so many foreigners in the Premier League. Being myself is perfect for me. People think: No, Ibrahimovic, you need to stop. My mentality says different. This doesn't mean he's deluded; he's not going to play if he's a burden on his teammates or if it means torturing his body, which is now in its fifth decade, through a career that spans 23 years, nine different clubs (including Milan on three occasions) in seven major leagues and in which he has won 33 team trophies. Not unless you happen to be a defender marking him in the box. What do they have that you dont? It is thanks to that that we become better people. Ronaldo, the Brazilian, didnt win one either. Getting attention will not heal you. I wanted it all to come very fast. But getting two more followers will not heal you. For me, you are a clown. Im happy theyre not the same because its not easy for the son to be compared with the father, especially when the father has the career he had. I played against the father and today Im playing with the son. You speak a lot about this story in your autobiography. Im not ashamed to say it because he did something stupid to my player. It is not about hiding anything. Oh! Now, it is time for someone else to leave their motto engraved in the stone. So my children have a contrast, but they are also 100% Swedish. When you do not know me, you hate me. For those things, you look at different phases. And I am proud. Fear is not a word you associate with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And they can have more belief. What happens to them is more important than what happens to you all of a sudden. Im very proud because I see these young players taking more responsibility, the mentality changing. That is my adrenaline. If you are intelligent, you understand. It looked brutal. So too, incredibly, are his defensive pressures (7.77 to 8.51): still near the bottom of Serie A players' stats, mind you, but an indication that when he's on the pitch, he's going to make it count. It is a shame, it was my favourite bike. You dont attack a dog that doesnt talk. Football or sport. Everyone can do better. No. You dont have balls to do it against me. You talk about confidence, is that a way of hiding a more fragile part of you? Thats the way you spread love., We agree to disagree and he smiles when I ask if anything scares him about his future without football? It is the world now. It is better in Italy, I was able to eat outside recently. I am just here to unite, spread love and joy. If I had won it, it would have been marvellous. The only thing that keeps me going is the adrenaline because every morning I have pain everywhere. Forever. On a team with so much youth -- Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer and Theo Hernandez are 24; Rafael Leao, Alexis Saelemaekers and Brahim Diaz are 22; Sandro Tonali and Pierre Kalulu are 21 -- Zlatan is what Milan need. Thats me. It is like people who say to me: Zlatan, you did not win the World Cup, you are not a good player. Ok. To try to win and make a difference on the pitch. But the Premier League has different qualities the pace, the rhythm. That everything returns to how it was. But you take your work very serious and theres a lot to talk about., I ask Ibrahimovic if he is almost glad he came from a difficult past in Sweden, when he was a punk from Rosengrd, an immigrant neighbourhood in Malm, and the son of a Bosnian caretaker and a Croatian cleaner. I did not chose that, but when you are as good as me, it comes all on its own and you have to take it on. I do it with my heart. Always. That is what I say about being perfect. Maldini epitomised Milans reputation for extending the careers of great players and it is striking that his 20yearold son, Daniel, plays alongside Ibrahimovic. Does your opinion still diverge from that of LeBron James, who you have clashed with? But I am not a hard man or whatever. When it comes, I will deal with it. We should only do what were good at. My best way of spreading this love is with my football. But these people are poorly brought up, ignorant and think that they can still live in the old world. Its incredible. Most athletes have to stare down the realisation that the greatest rush they will ever get will come to them before most of their peers' lives are even at the halfway mark. For me, to suffer is like breakfast. It is that, exactly that. For somebody who has always been the main man, who plays into the alpha male image with glee, Zlatan is very clear on what his current role is: he's not the hub of Milan's wheel, he's the big brother/motivator/leader who will do everything he can to help the club win their first Serie A title in a decade. I am too expensive to continue to speak to you! I am not here to force people to remember me. I am confident. We are in 2021! I'm trying to push [that step] as far away from me as I can.". At club level, I have won everything except the Champions League. I am not at all used to that. Do you find it abnormal that you didnt win it? I am not here to send a bad message to people. Some would say yes. I did a stupid thing. (laughs) You have an image of me I am not a gangster. In France, it is the same. People would say: Dont worry, it will pass. They do not know that there are psychological consequences for years later. But you cant focus that, otherwise you turn crazy. Is that the worst thing in football currently? If you already have the Guardian app, make sure youre on the most recent version. If I did, I would be a president now., It seems a shame he cant talk openly with James. "[It] makes no sense to play the game if you suffer too much, better to be realistic and tell yourself it's enough. What you see on my social media, that is real life. Its already a miracle, Ibrahimovic says with a grin before he picks up my notebook. "I was lucky that he was a Milan fan and believed in God so when I appeared, he did what I asked," says Zlatan. But then they opened up a little and I travelled home and stayed with them for two months.. With the situation that we have lived through, with quarantine, COVID-19, the face of the world has completely changed. But I learn from them. Things have changed and are still changing. What can he say? I remember, when I arrived in the United States, people had to choose 20 athletes to make the perfect team. Is it a nice feeling for you to be considered as someone unique? This is a young team, I am who I am, so I try to be supportive on the field and off. Because focusing on it means that in my head I'm prepared to stop. "I know from my own experience, from one week to another, a lot of things can change. That is natural. We will know who they really are. When you reach the level that is my own, you do not have a choice. He raises his hand in a final wave as he returns to work but the end, for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is still not here.

I am just playing my game, I want to win with my team, and the rest comes on its own. Now its full of talent, the youngest team in Europe, but were on top. I do sport. I am good in my job and I am here to help. He may be different in some ways, but the old Zlatan, the quotable, larger-than-life Zlatan, is still around. Not necessarily no. Ten Hag talks to ESPN about a new era, Ronaldo and more, 'Welcome to Wrexham' trailer breakdown: From connection to American owners to club's ambitions, Barca club store couldn't sell Lewandowski jerseys because it ran out of 'W's, Arsenal's Xhaka sets a few more things straight in ESPN interview, Why Chelsea's move to sign Koulibaly could get them back in title race. I am not Hulk. He knows we are all going to die, or retire, but here is the defiant Ibrahimovic mantra: This morning I had pain everywhere but as long as I have objectives, as long as I have adrenaline, I keep going. I do not want to be involved in manipulation.