The former striker visiting Trento: “We are talking with the Rossoneri club, let’s see where we get, it’s time to get to know each other. I’m sorry for Maldini. Tonali must be helped. Lukaku? He wasn’t him in that derby”
– thirty
The title of the meeting already says a lot, if not everything: “I am football”. And who, if not Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede, guest in Trento of the Sports Festival organized by Journal, he told Luigi Garlando without filters. As always, as he loves. “Nice shirts, eh?”, he says, smiling towards the children who parade on stage wearing the jerseys of the teams in which he played.
the zlatan child
—
“The child Zlatan was… a lot of trouble. Especially football, obviously. Everywhere I went I took it with me, even if they said I wasn’t a talent. Then I did things that can’t be done, but you learn and grow. identity of where you grew up always remains inside, but you bring it out with elegance, in another way”.
to Ajax
—
“The comparison with Van Basten at Ajax was difficult. Everyone expected me to do like him, but that wasn’t the case. For me it was the first time away from home, I wasn’t ready for such a comparison. But I didn’t give up and slowly slowly, mentally, I became stronger and stronger. And in the second I ‘baptized’ everyone.”
raiola
—
“My career began with Mino. When I met him I was arrogant and so was he. At the first meeting, in a restaurant, he orders sushi for eight people and brings out the statistics of great champions, different from Ibracadabra. Mine were inferior, I told him that I needed him to perform the miracle… For me he was a dad, a friend, everything. We grew up together, me with my career and him with his. We became strong together , in the end stronger than everyone. Both me and him… In his last days it wasn’t easy to see him in difficulty, I wanted to take him out of his illness, I tried to give him positivity. He told me ‘Do what makes you happy'”.
to Juventus
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“Capello at Juve told me ‘I’ll bring out all of Ajax from inside you, and I’ll fix you up’. He wanted me to be more concrete on the pitch and more direct. From the first day I worked in front of the goal, but I mean every day Sometimes I tried to hide behind my teammates… Capello told me to study Van Basten’s movements in the area. Trezeguet told me ‘You take the ball, turn and go, and I’ll wait for you in front’. David was intelligent.. I understood that in Italy the mentality is to score many goals, not just play well. So I said to Trezeguet ‘Now I’m waiting up front too…’. Juve’s championships? They’re 38, not 36. We fought every day, those who were there know the work that was done. We proved that we are the strongest in Italy, that’s why I say 38”.
Milan or Inter?
—
“Milan or Inter? Mino spoke to both, I was closer to Milan but on the other side they did it first and I signed with Inter.”
balotelli
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“Balotelli? When a kid has the opportunity to transform his talent into the future, and doesn’t even take one opportunity… I say that there are many out there who only have one, he has had many. He has wasted his opportunities.”
leao’s heel
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“Leao’s heel with Newcastle? If he scores a goal there, he’s a genius. His and Balotelli’s are not comparable heels. That’s why Leao on the pitch and Balotelli in the stands…”.
inside
—
“At Inter I felt stronger than at Ajax and Juve, more complete. With Inter we won three championships in a row after 17 years of absence. I said to myself ‘if I go there and win, I will remain in the history of the club’.
to Barcelona
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“Barcelona was a positive experience, I won several trophies, it was a dream to be there. The strongest team in the world. I wanted to win other challenges as a test for myself. The first six months went very well, then it changed ‘atmosphere”.
the first Milan
—
“When I went to Milan it wasn’t an easy moment for me. Barcelona wanted to sell me at all costs, I knew that Milan was talking to Raiola. In the tunnel of the Camp Nou, at the Gamper Trophy, all the AC Milan players told me ‘you come to us’. Galliani had come to mine and Helena’s house, he put his jacket on the sofa and she asked me who that gentleman was… That evening at dinner Galliani wanted to offer dinner, but the Milan credit card didn’t work I told him ‘it’s because of my purchase’.”
berlusconi
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“I had a good relationship with Berlusconi, I have a lot of respect for how he did things, how he thought. A great charisma, and then he was Mister Milan. He changed the history of football and Milan. For me he gave back the happiness I had lost in Barcelona. Thanks to him I smiled again. We often talked about many things, he told me how I should play, how to move. He stimulated me, as a footballer and as a person.”
in Paris
—
“Arriving in Paris was difficult, I didn’t want to move from Milan, where I was happy. At the beginning of the summer I said to Galliani ‘Promise me you won’t sell me’ and he replied ‘Okay’. One day I received several calls, I began to understand what it was about, and when I spoke to Mino he told me ‘It’s all done’ and I replied that I didn’t want to. They had put me and Thiago Silva in one package. I looked at the project, where they wanted to go and in the end I said Yes.
in manchester
—
“United was a top club, but everyone who asked me for advice told me not to go there. Not at 35, which would have been a risk for my career. So this was my challenge. I prefer to walk through fire than on the water, which is something only I can do. There I was hated, they said I was arrogant, but after three months they all became my fans.”
the inverted icon
—
“The overhead kick against England? The thought counts first. Thinking you can do something special, and not a normal conclusion. I told myself to try to do something for which you are either a genius or not. Like Leao with Newcastle” .
in Los Angeles
—
“I’m happy that Messi has arrived in the USA, so they can start watching football again. After I left, they didn’t watch it anymore…”.
the last scudetto to Milan
—
“The last scudetto at Milan was the most satisfying of all, because the team wasn’t favourites, the players weren’t superstars. I wasn’t used to a situation like that. That Milan was completely the opposite to my past. it was a new management, Covid, new coach, but we were very united. From then on, those who were ready to make sacrifices stayed. Those who weren’t, left. I’ve never had such a strong group in my collective life. career. When we got to the top, the crowd came back and it was a group that got stronger with each passing day. There were those who said it was all luck, but we did it. Something that will remain in history forever “After the match against Sassuolo I saw teammates crying, people on the staff crying, and then you understand what you did. I said I would bring Milan back to victory and I realized I succeeded.
tonal
—
“His dream was Milan and the first year he was too much of a fan. I told him ‘enough is enough, now take a step forward and stop being a fan and make a difference’. You could see the talent, but Brescia and another Milan. The bets? I know little about this story, I’ve never heard anything from him, I’ve never heard him feel bad. If he’s sick of gambling, we need to help him, because it’s like a drug. We need to understand if he played at casino, I did it too. Then, of course, if one bets on football it’s another story.”
Is Zlatan or Rafa better?
—
“Better Zlatan or Leao? Zlatan created Leao…”.
maldini
—
“I have a good relationship with Paolo, we went through positive and negative moments together, he was growing as a manager, it wasn’t an easy situation. Every day he was at the pitch, he spoke with Pioli, it wasn’t easy on the transfer market because there was a budget limited. In that context I got to know him better, in my opinion he did a good job. He has grown a lot, I’m sorry what happened, he is a symbol of Milan. But football is like that, it changes from one day to the next. something else. Happy with what he did for Milan as a player and as a manager.”
lukaku
—
“Is Lukaku playing in the Pope’s city? He’s playing for me… I know him, I played with him for a year and he’s not the person we saw that time in the derby. I didn’t expect that attitude. Blame the media, who made him feel like what he isn’t. It was a strange thing, it wasn’t like him, he’s not a bad guy. I, on the other hand, was myself… I defended my teammates and then I said to myself ‘if we play another match, let’s see what happens.”
the future
—
“A few months have passed since my retirement. I have total freedom, I take my time, I don’t have anyone telling me what to do. I’m taking time to understand what to do. I have more offers now than when I was playing… If I get into something I want to make a difference but be myself. Let’s see what happens, we’ll do something. We’re talking with Milan, let’s see where we get, it’s time to get to know each other. If someone can bring something it makes an impact, otherwise it doesn’t.”
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