AC Milan midfielder, Ismael Bennacer has revealed how a perfectionist the club’s 38-year-old forward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be during a football match. He joked that the Sweden football icon could kill someone who fails to pass the ball to him.
Zlatan who had played at the club between 2010 and 2011, returned to the Italian Serie A side on January 2, 2020, on a free transfer from a Major League Soccer club, LA Galaxy. Since he returned to AC Milan, the club has witnessed significant progress as his effort so far has been able to push the club to the 6th spot on the league table with one game in hand to play before the Serie A season ends.
As it stands, whether AC Milan win or lose their last match of the season against 13th placed Cagliari on Saturday, they will still finish 6th on the league table because they have 4 points more than 7th placed Napoli and they are 4 points below 5th placed Roma.
Though finishing 6th don’t use to be an achievement for AC Milan as they used to be title contenders, it has not been so in recent years. Hence, the 2019-2020 football season in Italy is one of those seasons the club would have to celebrate a Europa League slot again.
On the road to earning the slot, Zlatan Ibrahimovic contributed 9 goals and made 5 assists in 17 appearances. In both Serie A and Coppa Italia, the 38-year-old Swedish football legend played 19 times, scoring 10 goals and made 5 assists despite not always completing the whole 90 minutes on the pitch.
However, in those 19 appearances, he has made since he returned to AC Milan, his age didn’t stop him from playing the entire 90 minutes in 10 different matches. No wonder the former Manchester United star compares himself to Benjamin Button, a character in a 2008 Hollywood movie who reverses in age and becomes younger over time rather than older.
I'm just warming up pic.twitter.com/7GLlrCIG4a
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) July 25, 2020
More so, the secret to his continuous excellence on the pitch could be what Ismael Bennacer, an Algerian midfielder who plays with him at AC Milan described as being a perfectionist who doesn’t like people getting it wrong around.
The 22-year-old Algerian star revealed Zlatan Ibrahimovic would always scream at them when they are not playing well and say nothing when they are playing well.
Bennacer said: “He (Zlatan) helps you a lot. With him there, you want to do more, you don’t want to lose a ball. You must give your best because he is looking for perfection, and if you don’t give it, he’ll kill you.
“He’s like that, but he’s right. It’s right to scream when you make a mistake and not say anything when you do well. That’s how you learn and become a player at the highest level.”
