AC Milan

AC Milan announced Zlatan Ibrahimovic underwent surgery on his left knee to address an ACL injury on Wednesday.

The Swedish striker's recovery is set to take around seven to eight months.

World football insider Fabrizio Romano noted Ibrahimovic's contract expires this summer and that he's unsure on whether he will keep playing.

The news comes only three days after Milan won Serie A for the first time since 2010-11.

Ibrahimovic is credited with playing a big role in that success. He had eight goals and two assists in 23 Serie A appearances, and his 0.71 goals per 90 minutes were the highest on the team, per FBref.

The 40-year-old also provided invaluable leadership to a club that had been lost in the wilderness. After placing third in 2012-13, Milan would go eight seasons before qualifying for the Champions League again.

I said I did pic.twitter.com/elMymh4ELb

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) May 23, 2022

Even before he underwent knee surgery, Ibrahimovic's age raised obvious questions about his status for the 2022-23 campaign in beyond. In an interview with ESPN's Gabriele Marcotti in early May—shortly before he suffered the injury—he acknowledged the end might be near.

"I'm in a situation now where I'm close to the goal line ... so I'm a little bit panicking," he said. "Because when it stops, what do you do? I know I can do a lot of things, I will have offers from all over the place. But the adrenaline I get on the field, I will never get that [from] something else."

If this is indeed it, Ibra capped off his career in a fashion befitting his legendary status.

UEFA is investigating AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic for allegedly having ties to betting company Bethard, according to Reuters.

Felix Tornberg and Michael Wagner of Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported this month that Ibrahimovic is a part owner in Bethard, which is based out of Malta. That would run afoul of FIFA's Code of Ethics, which prohibit players from having a financial interest in betting companies.

Reuters noted Ibrahimovic could face a fine of $109,373 and a suspension from the sport of up to three years.

In December, Atletico Madrid defender Kieran Trippier received a 10-week ban from the English FA for violating the association's betting rules. Atleti unsuccessfully attempted to appeal the ruling in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

English striker Daniel Sturridge also received a four-month ban—increased from the original six-week term—in March, which expedited his transfer from Trabzonspor.

Those cases differed from Ibrahimovic's. Trippier and Sturridge were brought in front of the governing bodies for allegedly passing along inside information regarding future transfers.

Given his age, any ban would be a tough blow for the 39-year-old. The Sweden striker has scored 15 goals in 17 Serie A appearances for Milan, helping the club push on for a Champions League place next season. Milan is fifth in the table but level on points with third-place Napoli and fourth-place Juventus.

Ibrahimovic just signed an extension with the Rossoneri through the 2021-22 season.

AC Milan announced Thursday that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will stay for at least another season after the two sides agreed to a one-year contract extension.

The 39-year-old leads the club with 15 goals and has two assists in 17 appearances in Serie A this season. The club sits in second place in the Italian table, 10 points behind Inter, with six matches remaining.

It would be AC Milan's first top-four finish in Serie A since 2012-13.

Ibrahimovic is in his fourth season total with AC Milan and has scored 84 goals in 130 appearances with the Rossoneri. He helped the club win the league title in 2010-11 during his first stint and returned last year after playing two seasons for the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS.

The Swedish striker has an incredible resume that includes time spent in the biggest clubs in the world, like Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter and Paris Saint-Germain. He has won domestic titles in Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga with 13 first-place finishes in all.

He has also made UEFA's Team of the Year four times.

Deep into his professional career, Zlatan remains a difference-maker on the pitch who can come through with a goal at nearly any moment.

Another year of Zlatan.

Throwback to one of his greatest goals in a Milan jersey 💥 https://t.co/D2rMDpVFa6

— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 22, 2021

The latest deal will keep him with AC Milan past his 40th birthday in October.

UEFA has appointed a disciplinary investigator to review allegations AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the target of racist abuse targeting his family's Balkan roots during Thursday's Europa League match against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Red Star Belgrade could face discipline from UEFA, which holds home clubs responsible for incidents at their stadiums. The Serbian side didn't have ticketed fans for the fixture, but club officials and other guests were allowed in the stands.

Red Star issued an apology Friday, saying the club would work to identify the man shown on video shouting a derogatory term used toward Muslims at Ibrahimovic:

"As a club, we have done everything to ensure that the organization of the match was up to the level of the two big clubs, and we will not allow one primitive individual to cast a stain on the traditionally well-known hospitality of our country and our people.

"Red Star, in cooperation with the relevant authorities, will find the aforementioned individual and insist on him bearing all the consequences of such behavior."

Ibrahimovic, whose father is Muslim, hasn't publicly commented on the incident.

The 39-year-old Sweden native was an unused substitute for Milan in the 2-2 draw Thursday. He played 75 minutes in Sunday's 3-0 loss to Inter Milan in domestic Serie A play.

Milan and Red Star will play the second leg of their Europa League matchup Thursday at San Siro in Italy. The winner advances to the tournament's round of 16.

UEFA didn't provide a timetable for its investigation into the alleged abuse.

AC Milan announced striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa League third qualifying-round match against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt.

"The Club has informed the relevant authorities and the player has been promptly placed in quarantine at home," Milan said in a statement. "All other team members and staff have tested negative."

The forward responded to the news on Twitter:

I tested negative to Covid yesterday and positive today. No symptoms what so ever. Covid had the courage to challenge me. Bad idea

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) September 24, 2020

Rossoneri defender Leo Duarte also tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday. Both players took part in Monday's Serie A season-opening 2-0 win against Bologna. Ibrahimovic scored both goals in the contest.

In March, the 38-year-old started a fundraiser with a $109,000 donation to help support hospitals in Italy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Italy has always given me so much and, in this dramatic moment, I want to give back even more to this country that I love," Ibrahimovic said at the time.

The Swede returned to Milan in December after finishing a two-year stint with MLS' Los Angeles Galaxy. He previously played for the Italian club from 2010 to 2012, scoring 56 goals in 86 appearances across all competitions.

He's one of the most decorated players of the generation, with numerous individual and club accolades during stays with clubs including Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.

Milan's positive tests come after Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora announced Friday the country would begin allowing up to 1,000 fans at sporting events as long as clubs and stadiums follow "rules laid down for spacing, masks [and] seat reservations."

Italy was one of the hardest-hit countries early in the pandemic, but it was able to flatten the curve and now ranks 20th with over 302,000 total confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

After Thursday's match against Bodo/Glimt, Milan are scheduled to continue the Serie A campaign Sunday when they visit Stadio Ezio Scida to take on Crotone.

Changing manager at AC Milan has become a routine procedure in the recent times. Since Massimiliano Allegri departed in 2014, the club have had nine different bosses.

So it came as a pretty big surprise this week when the club performed a U-turn on their plan to install Ralf Rangnick as their next manager.

The former RB Leipzig boss and sporting director was in line to replace Stefano Pioli at the helm as part of a new project designed to lead the Italian giants back towards UEFA Champions League football and Serie A glory.

But seven months of planning for Rangnick's arrival were thrown out the window on Wednesday, and Pioli has been given a new two-year contract on the back of an impressive run of results.

Suddenly, the whole landscape in Milan looks different.

There is new hope that Zlatan Ibrahimovic could stay at the club, and transfer plans are going to change. The quest to return to the Champions League for the first time since 2013/14 is taking a new path. With clever plotting, they may even put up a challenge to Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus before long.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano told Bleacher Report how the Rangnick decision has altered everything.

"I think Milan did something absolutely new by going after Rangnick," he said. "Since December they had been thinking about him and were going to make him the sort of manager we don't see in Italy. He was going to be a manager who dealt with transfers, coached the team, did everything. That might be normal in Germany or England, but we don't see that in Italy.

"There was going to be an agreement over two years. They had talked about players to sign and the big project, but it all changed. 

"Now Pioli has started to show his skills, and I think he has shown he is right for these players and for this club. Maybe some fans were ready for a new project and will worry he has been kept on just because of some good results. But I think there is more to it than that, and he will be focused on what he can do with this team."

Pioli's results have been good since play resumed in June—seven wins and two draws from nine Serie A matches. He has won the respect of his squad, yet fans do seem to be confused by the situation.

B/R reached out to a number of Milan supporters to gauge the feeling, and the general consensus is that they were ready for the new project under Rangnick to begin. There was hope and, it seemed, fresh ambition.

Oli Fisher is editor-in-Chief at SempreMilan, and he told B/R: "The gut reaction for most fans would be a mixture of things. ... Confusion, because for months we had been led to believe by every major media outlet that Rangnick was coming regardless.

"And relief, because for once the club have opted to continue a good thing that they have going rather than throw it away like they did when Gattuso was in charge. However, there is also an element of worry; have the club thrown away a three-year plan off the back of a good run since lockdown? If so, it may be a dangerous strategy.

"What matters is that Milan have a great core of players who seem to love Pioli and the current management, which of course includes Paolo Maldini, plus they are playing their best football in years and are giving supporters a product on the pitch to be proud of. As always, the key is summer recruitment."

The priority position to deal with in that sense will be in attack—unless Milan convince Ibrahimovic to stay another year. 

The 38-year-old first played for Milan 10 years ago but returned in January on a deal until the end of this season. He has scored eight times in 17 appearances, and his quality, experience and leadership has brought new life to the side, particularly since the restart.

He was expected to leave, but that might not be the case.

Romano explained: "If Rangnick had come in, Ibrahimovic would have left. He didn't have any contact with him and didn't expect anything. But now I think there is a chance he stays.

"This Milan team is still Ibra's Milan, and after the last game of the season, there will be talks with his agent, Mino Raiola, about the situation. I think in August they will sit down to look at the project. Two weeks ago, that did not seem possible.

"If he stays, then they won't need to sign a top striker. They will still sign a forward, but not a big one. If he goes? They will spend a lot on a striker."

Some exciting names are being linked to Milan ahead of the next transfer window, with Brescia's Sandro Tonali, Real Madrid's Luka Jovic and Fiorentina's Federico Chiesa all mentioned as targets in the Italian media this week.

Daniele Longo is a journalist covering AC Milan for Calciomercato.com, and he told B/R: "Milan would like to take Jovic from Real Madrid to reform that couple (with Rebic) who did so well at Eintracht Frankfurt. As for Tonali, Milan are trying, but Inter are ahead and have already presented an important offer to Brescia. He would like to play in Milan, which is the team he cheers for.

"I believe that AC Milan is still in a difficult phase of slow progress. They have an ambition to return to the Champions League, but at the moment they are not competitive to fight Juventus for the league. It would take important investments on the market and more unity of purpose among managers, but this is unlikely to occur quickly.

"Much will also depend on the renewal of Zlatan. The Swedish champion wants to stay, but [club executive] Ivan Gazidis is making assessments due to the age and high salary requested."

There are other issues to sort out too.

Milan need to tie up some loose ends on members of the current squad. New contracts for goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and midfielder Ismael Bennacer are important, along with making sure Ante Rebic stays beyond his initial loan deal from Frankfurt.

"Many things will change for Milan," said transfer expert Romano. "Donnarumma has one year left on his contract, and they have to extend that—they cannot lose him. So they are working on that.

"Also, they need Rebic to stay because he is terrific. It will cost €25 million to keep him.

"With transfers, they will also go for a centre-back to go with Alessio Romagnoli, and they want a right-back as well."

Milan's transfer budget this summer will be around €75 million, but they can bring in extra cash by offloading players. They have just sold Suso to Sevilla for €24 million, for example, and that money can be reinvested in the squad.

So what does all this mean for Milan's hopes of becoming a genuine European force once again?

And is there any chance they can close in on Juventus and their dominance on the domestic scene?

"I think they need two or three years to catch Juve," said Romano. "If they do everything well, that could happen, but of course teams like Inter will be there too.

"They have to find a way into the Champions League over the next two years, and then, with money and the right players, they could catch Juve."

Milan are playing some of the best football in Italy—now Pioli will get the chance to build a team that could return to being one of Europe's true giants.

The longer time goes on, the harder it gets to shake off the feeling that there is something wrong with AC Milan's No. 9 shirt.

Since Filippo Inzaghi retired in 2012, the nine players who have worn his old jersey have scored 29 Serie A goals between them. By way of comparison, that's only two goals more than Lazio striker Ciro Immobile—Serie A's current top scorer—had netted in the six months before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The experience of Krzysztof Piatek, Milan's most recent No. 9, only served to fuel talk that the shirt is cursed. After a prolific start to the 2018-19 season with Genoa, Piatek joined Milan in January 2019 but was told by then-sporting director Leonardo that the right to wear the No. 9 jersey would have to be "earned."

With the No. 19 on his back, Piatek scored nine Serie A goals in the second half of the season and was rewarded with the No. 9 shirt. Then he stopped scoring. The Poland international notched only four league goals for Milan in the first half of the current campaign and was sold to Hertha Berlin in January.

The roll-call of strikers who have worn Milan's No. 9 shirt since Inzaghi hung up his boots eight years ago features both rising stars like Piatek, Mattia Destro and Andre Silva, and proven goalscorers such as Fernando Torres and Gonzalo Higuain. All have tried, and all have failed.

"I think there's something supernatural, a kind of spell," says Benedetta Radaelli, a Milan supporter and presenter on Italian television channel Sport Mediaset. "Since Inzaghi, nobody has had any luck. I think his body and his energy are still inside that shirt, because he loved the shirt so much. If I were AC Milan, I would withdraw it. It's so unlucky. Put it in some place where nobody can touch it or look at it."

The sorry tale begins with Alexandre Pato, the Brazilian prodigy whose sad, injury-triggered decline had already set in by the time he swapped his No. 7 shirt for Inzaghi's old number in the summer of 2012. After six injury-plagued months in which he failed to score a single league goal, he returned to Brazil with Corinthians.

Alessandro Matri, an August 2013 signing from Juventus, scored only one goal in 15 league games before being loaned out to Fiorentina the following January, never to return. Two players wore the No. 9 the following season—Torres in the campaign's first half, Destro in the second—but the pair amassed only four league goals between them. Inzaghi, back at Milan as head coach that season and exasperated by the lack of reliable options up front, ended up deploying French winger Jeremy Menez as a striker for much of the campaign.

Recruited from Shakhtar Donetsk in July 2015, Luiz Adriano wore the No. 9 without distinction for a single season before passing it on to Gianluca Lapadula, who had scored goals for fun with Pescara in Serie B but found the going a little tougher in Serie A. Highly regarded Portugal international Silva, signed as part of new Chinese owner Li Yonghong's chaotic €200 million transfer splurge in the summer of 2017, fared no better.

Higuain arrived on loan from Juventus in August 2018 and dismissed talk of a curse, declaring: "I have already worn a few shirts which carry a heavy burden, so the No. 9 shirt here isn't a problem." But after five months, and only six Serie A goals, he decided to re-join forces with Maurizio Sarri, his former Napoli mentor, at Chelsea. Enter (and then, swiftly, exit) Piatek.

Five Milan strikers have hit double figures in Serie A goals in the post-Inzaghi era—Stephan El Shaarawy, Giampaolo Pazzini, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Bacca and Patrick Cutrone—but none reached the 20-goal mark and none were wearing the famous number. Synonymous with goals in the days of Marco van Basten, George Weah and Inzaghi, the jersey now lies vacant, a sacred garment turned poisoned chalice. And with each new failure, the pressure to break the curse grows even stronger.

"The AC Milan shirt is so heavy, especially now," says Alessandra Bocci, who reports on Milan for La Gazzetta dello Sport. "They've been in crisis for many years, so every year it gets heavier and heavier."

---

Mark Hateley is not easily given to sentimentality, but on the wall of his study at his home just outside Glasgow he has mounted one of the Milan No. 9 shirts that he wore during his time at the club in the 1980s.

Signed from Portsmouth in the summer of 1984 to spearhead a Milan team being rebuilt after relegation two years previously, he swiftly endeared himself to Rossoneri fans by scoring a trademark header against Inter Milan that gave his new club a first derby victory in six years.

As the son of a celebrated striker (his late father, Tony, played up front for Notts County, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool, among others), Hateley knows more than most about unhelpful comparisons. He says he embarked upon life in Milan without giving a thought to the players that had worn his shirt before him.

"I've never gone into a team and thought, 'Who's gone before?'" he tells Bleacher Report. "You can only be as good as you can be, so just go and be your best."

Silvio Berlusconi's arrival as owner in 1986 propelled Milan into a new dimension, and Hateley, who left San Siro a year later, says the golden era that followed under the management of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello created a burden of expectation that dogs the club's players to this day.

"It's about being in the right place at the right time," says the former England striker, who now works in a business development role at his old club Rangers. "The expectations of Milan go back now to the days of Van Basten, [Ruud] Gullit and [Frank] Rijkaard, Paolo Maldini, [Alessandro] Costacurta and Franco Baresi. The heady, European days. You go to a football club that has been really, really successful and that's what the fans will always crave. You see a No. 9 running around now, and they probably can't emulate what was happening back then. It's out of your control."

Milan's fans may still expect the best, but economic realities mean that the club can no longer compete for the world's most sought-after players. Where once Milan led the way in the transfer market, setting four world transfer records between 1954 and 1992, they now find themselves sidelined by the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Milan have never spent more on a single player than the €42 million they shelled out (unsuccessfully, as it transpired) to prise Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus in July 2017. When it comes to spending big, the modern superclubs have left them behind.

In an increasingly competitive market for an increasingly small group of elite centre-forwards, Milan have often been obliged to take punts on unproven young strikers—Silva, Piatek, 2019 recruit Rafael Leao—who have not delivered. It has not helped that the strikers that have come in have joined unsuccessful squads fumbling around for an identity, rather than the battle-hardened, trophy-winning lineups of years gone by.

"If you join a mechanism, a group, a system that works, it's different," says Bocci. "[Andriy] Shevchenko was a phenomenal player, but it was easier for him because he was playing with Rui Costa, Maldini, [Alessandro] Nesta, Jaap Stam and players like that. Pato was very young but arrived in a good system with very big players. Rafael Leao is not Pato, of course, but he joined a poor Milan."

---

If the gulf between Milan's past and present continues to yawn, there is one player who straddles both eras. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, emblem of Milan's last Scudetto success in 2011, has scored three goals in eight league outings since returning to the club from L.A. Galaxy on a six-month deal in December, and although he was wearing the No. 21 shirt prior to the season's suspension, there are those who believe he could be the solution to the No. 9 hex.

"If someone scored with the Milan No. 9 on his back, then I am happy," Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia in January. "So let's end this 'curse'. It's not right to retire the No. 9, because someone must always wear it, but I hope that Ibra—if he stays—decides to take it on, because he's got broad enough shoulders to carry it off."

Ibrahimovic, now 38, has never been one to shy away from a challenge, and with a career average of 0.56 goals per game in the No. 9 shirt, which he has previously worn at Ajax, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United and L.A. Galaxy, it does not seem like an assignment that would give him sleepless nights.

In the meantime, speculation is beginning to mount over the identity of the next player who will be invited to don the ill-fated jersey. Milan have been linked to Napoli's Arkadiusz Milik and Mauro Icardi, who is currently on loan at PSG from Inter. However, Jean-Pierre Papin, another former wearer of the red and black No. 9 shirt, has urged the club to make a move for Edinson Cavani.

As far as Hateley is concerned, Milan's No. 9 shirt is not a millstone to be avoided but a prize to be seized with both hands.

"If I was going to Milan right now, I'd be thinking, 'Right, I'm going to be the best No. 9 that has been here for a long, long time,'" he says. "And that would drive me to be that No. 9 who could be part of folklore forever. That's the sort of mentality you have to take going into big clubs. You have to have broad enough shoulders to carry the expectations."

For now, the curse of the No. 9 shirt endures. But someday, surely, somebody will succeed in pulling the sword from the stone. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has launched a fundraiser to aid Italian hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.

The AC Milan striker set up a donation page and pledged €100,000 (£92,828) in the effort to help the medical response in northern Italy.

Ibrahimovic explained on Instagram (h/t BBC Sport) why he set up the page and urged fellow athletes to donate in order to "kick this virus away."

"Italy has always given me so much and, in this dramatic moment, I want to give back even more to this country that I love.

"I count on the generosity of my colleagues, of all professional athletes and of those who want to make a small or large donation according to their possibilities, to kick this virus away.

"Together we can really help hospitals and doctors and nurses who selflessly work every day to save our lives. Because today we are the ones cheering for them."

Ibrahimovic returned to play for Milan last December after completing a spell with Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.

The Swede has previously featured for Juventus and Inter Milan, with the striker achieving great success in the north of the country, which has been severely affected by the unfolding pandemic.

The fundraising page had raised €143,670 in its first nine hours after being created by the 38-year-old.

Leagues across Europe have been suspended since the coronavirus outbreak. The Italian government officially suspended all sporting events on March 9 and will not resume before April 3.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's arrival in January has so far done little to revive AC Milan's fortunes. Ibrahimovic found the net once in February, during a 4-2 derby defeat to rivals Inter.

Otherwise, it was a month defined by "what ifs" for the Rossoneri, who drew three of their five games in all competitions, including 1-1 against Juventus in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final. The lone bright spot for Stefano Pioli's team came from the goals of Ante Rebic, who found the net in four-straight games.

      

AC Milan Statistical Leaders in Serie A (Per the league's official website)

Goals: Ante Rebic 6, Theo Hernandez 5, Hakan Calhanoglu 3, Zlatan Ibrahimovic 2

Assists: Samuel Castillejo 2, Lucas Biglia 1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic 1

         

Rebic in Prolific Form

• 5 starts in all competitions
• 4 goals
• 12 shots

      

Rebic's goals earned the Rossoneri four points, first from a 1-0 win at home to Torino followed by a 1-1 draw in Fiorentina. The 26-year-old is showing a greater refinement in front of goal.

He's more alert to when and where chances will develop. Rebic's technique means his first touch is rarely letting him down, while his flair means he can produce something spectacular from distance.

Ante Rebic - @acmilan

First 8 Serie A appearances:
180 minutes
3 shots
0 goals

Last 6 Serie A appearances:
429 minutes
17 shots
6 goals

Despite starting just five league matches all season, the Croatian is now Milan's top scorer pic.twitter.com/U2ccDB4m2p

— WhoScored (@WhoScored) February 24, 2020

It's a measure of Rebic's burgeoning efficiency he's made the most of his limited playing time:

6 - Among the Serie A 2019/20 players able to score at least 6 goals, Ante #Rebic has played only 608 minutes, less than any other. Condition. #FiorentinaMilan

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 22, 2020

Rebic has been late to the party because he was often overlooked by Pioli's predecessor Marco Giampaolo. Pioli reshaping Milan into a flexible 4-4-2 setup, combined with Rebic's "graft and determination," have helped the former Eintracht Frankfurt star get back to his best, according to Football Italia's Kaustubh Pandey.

       

Ibrahimovic Still a Player for the Big Occasion

• 4 starts in all competitions
• 1 goal, 1 assist
• 11 shots

      

He's 38 and past his best, but Ibrahimovic can still be trusted to turn the clock back on a big occasions. He chose the Milan derby to produce his best game since returning to the Rossoneri.

A goal and an assist for Rebic gave a superior Inter squad all it could handle and contributed to an entertaining six-goal thriller.

38 - Zlatan #Ibrahimovic (38 years, 129 days) is the oldest ever goalscorer in a Milan derby in the Serie A history. Eternal.#InterMilan pic.twitter.com/1RGnhFwQKy

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 9, 2020

The powerhouse centre-forward was unfortunate to have another goal against Fiorentina ruled out by VAR. While the decision went against him, Ibrahimovic proved he still has the strength, flair and improvisational skills to unlock any defence.

He's only been on the scoresheet three times so far during his second tour with Milan, but the Swede's quality remains key to qualifying for next season's UEFA Champions League.  

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's contract at AC Milan will automatically renew if they reach the Champions League, Paolo Maldini has revealed 爛 pic.twitter.com/ngw07CKzu5

— Goal (@goal) February 23, 2020

It's a tall order with the Rossoneri seventh and nine points adrift of Atalanta in fourth. Yet an in-form strike partnership like the one between Rebic and Ibrahimovic gives Milan an edge over the other contenders.