Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s mission

If there was one player we wouldn’t say possible could age on the pitch, that player was it Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Because, at least almost two decades ago, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was above all an appearance, something that wasn’t there before he set foot on the pitch, and which then had more imitators than dolphins. A player who has upset the game and above all the football imagination. And players of the genre usually make sure to get out of the way early enough, before offering their “regular” version.

Or at least that was the way it used to be. Because in recent years everything has stretched and dilated and you can always find a way to make it even a little longer. Even in prestigious championships or how prestigious they have been.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not retire early. He pretended to say goodbye, to end his career in America, a way, not too veiled, to dramatically expand Zlatanmania, i.e. the very personal mission to zlatanize the world of football, make it as much as possible in its image and likeness.

It is this tendency of his towards the “mission”, towards football evangelization – in his image and likeness – which has dissuaded him from the intent, which is also a bit of a braggart, youthful. “I feel like the strongest player in the world. If you don’t think it, you can’t play one hundred percent. For me, being second does not exist. I will still play for three years at the most, because you have to stop when you are at the top ”, he said in 2010. He had just arrived at Milan, he was convinced he could win the Scudetto with the Rossoneri (he succeeded) and the Champions League in three years. Not everything went as he had expected. Three years later he was in Paris to “give Paris what he has never seen in the city”.

Thirteen years after pronouncing these words, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still busy training, he has recovered from yet another injury, he scored a penalty against Udinese which made him enter the history of Serie A: at 41 years, 5 months and 5 days is the oldest player to have scored a goal in the Italian league. Until Saturday this record was held by Alessandro Costacurta: 41 years and 25 days.

Milan has decided to use the old shrewdness with Zlatan Ibrahimovicnow actually in disuse, to let your champion have the last word in terms of withdrawal. He has decided to continue, perhaps he will continue further – he is evaluating – certainly he is not saving himself. Not that he’s ever done it, but from the time he felt he was “the strongest player in the world” to today, the Swede has shown that he puts aside the rather romantic notion that natural talent and footballing genius were enough on their own and took the path of a rationalist professionalism. And in his case, quite a positivist.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is no longer the footballer who entered world football and Serie A with a straight leg. There is nothing left of that player but a name printed on the back of a shirt. He doesn’t exist on the pitch, where his ability to be a gravitational center that moved throughout the offensive span and centered all the opponent’s attention and nervous energies on himself, has weakened a lot; there is no outside the field, where his sympathies could distort what a footballer had been up to that moment. Not everything is gone. However, everything has evolved, it has become more complicated and difficult to read.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become a pivot on the pitch. His movements are restricted, as are the gravitational fields, but he manages in any way to determine the spaces with his presence. But to succeed in this he must be in perfect shape, and it is increasingly rare now.

And he is also pivotal off the pitch. Even if the years and experiences have made him more the wise uncle, the one who knows how to read the things of life and give you the most appropriate indication, than the magnetic leader capable of changing the fate of his companions. His zlatanization of football has not created children, perhaps it has indeed failed in the lameness of this latest Milan by Stefano Pioli. Yet it was not in vain. Something is moving despite the difficulties. Theo Hernandez had arrived as a bully and became a player; Davide Calabria was a shy man, he made himself the boss; Sandro Tonali was a little boy who found it hard to understand that he was really at Milan, all excited as he was to live his dream, now he leads and sews in the middle of the field. Of course, the big hit was missing, detaching Rafael Leao from his wonderful imaginary world and making him live permanently on the playing field. It seems impossible, but it doesn’t mean that he can’t do it.

And then there’s still a Champions League (a cup he’s never won) to finish as far forward as possible.

Olives is the address book of John Battistuzzi on the (not necessarily) protagonists of Serie A. In the first episode there was talk of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Naples), in the second of Emil Audero (Sampdoria), in the third of Boulaye Dia (Salernitana), in the fourth of Tommaso Baldanzi (Empoli) , in the fifth by Marko Arnautovic (Bologna), in the sixth Gabriele Spangaro entertained you with Beto (Udinese), in the seventh by Christian Gytkjær (Monza), in the eighth Armand Laurienté (Sassuolo), in the ninth Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio ), in the tenth Sandro Tonali (Milan), in the eleventh Cyriel Dessers (Cremonese), in the twelfth Tammy Abraham (Roma), in the thirteenth Stefano Sensi (Monza), in the fourteenth Federico Baschirotto (Lecce), in the fifteenth Moise Kean (Juventus) , in the seventeenth Rasmus Hojlund (Atalanta); in the eighteenth M’Bala Nzola (Siena); in the nineteenth Federico Dimarco (Inter); in the twentieth Cyril Ngonge (Hellas Verona); in the twenty-first Riccardo Saponara (Fiorentina); in the twenty-second Perr Schuurs (Turin); in the twenty-third Ola Solbakken (Rome); in the twenty-fourth Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna); in the twenty-fifth Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter); in the 26th Rolando Mandragora (Fiorentina);