Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who announced his retirement from football, at the end of an emotional night at the San Siro on Sunday said later even his family didn’t know the “big news”.
The veteran AC Milan forward was out of contract with the Serie A club at the end of the season. Milan had already announced there would be a special ceremony after the match against Hellas Verona to bid the Swede farewell.
But Ibrahimovic later revealed in a news conference that no one knew the big news he was about to drop. “Even my family didn’t know, because I wanted that when I announced it everyone heard it at the same time,” he said.
The 41-year-old was given a guard of honour by his teammates as he walked out after the match they won 3-1. He struggled to hold back the tears — while most of the fans and his teammates were in tears — as he took the microphone and said: “The time has come to say goodbye (to football) but not to you.”
Ibrahimovic scored 93 goals in 163 appearances over two spells at Milan. He returned in January 2020 and helped Milan win the Serie A title last year — his second league trophy with the Rossoneri. He also enjoyed trophy-laden spells at PSG, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Juventus and Ajax, and made 122 appearances for his country, scoring 62 goals.
He told reporters he struggled to find someone who wasn’t crying as he looked around during his speech. But he couldn’t resist a joke too. “I woke up this morning and it was raining, and I thought Even God is crying,” he said with a smile.
Scudetto brings joy
Naples: As Giovanni Di Lorenzo became the first Napoli player to lift the Serie A trophy toward the sky since Diego Maradona, the stadium named after the Argentina great exploded into a sea of joy.
Napoli had clinched their first Serie A title in 33 years with five rounds to spare but had to wait until the final day of the season to be presented with the trophy, in front of their own fans at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Players danced joyously as they each took their turns lifting up the Scudetto.
Di Lorenzo later led the team and the whole stadium in a rendition of “It’s us, it’s us, we are the champions of Italy”.
Napoli signed off from a stunning season with a 2-0 victory over already-relegated Sampdoria, in a match where on-the-field action mattered little.
AP/PTI
