Ibra talks about his role as an advisor: “The first time, Milan gave me happiness; the second time, love. Now I’m here to give something back. Leao? He’s magic; he won a championship all by himself.”
He lost his tail, but not his determination. He learned to decline the ‘we’, to respect timing and roles, to leave the spotlight to others, “but wait a minute: I’m still God.” Normalize Ibra? Impossible, and why should we? However, after his two stints as a player, the third chapter of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Rossoneri life, which began in December 2023, is all under a new light. “I’m here to help. The first time Milan gave me happiness, the second time love. Now I’m here to give something back. And to create the conditions to win.”
Ibra, what is life like as an executive now that you are a partner at RedBird and a consultant for Milan?
“I already have gray hair… I arrived with a ponytail, now I look like this, and soon I’ll be bald…”
Joking aside?
“It all started after a 25-year career in soccer, at top speed. Then I had 3-4 months of freedom to do what I wanted, without a schedule, I spent a lot of time with my children and… after 25 years, I met my wife. And the news is that we’re still together! After three months, I saw Giorgio Furlani and he said to me, ‘I want you to meet Gerry Cardinale’. I did: twice in Milan, the third time in Los Angeles. But I didn’t want anything, I felt like a free man, I didn’t want to start making plans again. He insisted, he challenged me and I always said no. Then I became curious. I asked him for three things in order to accept: 1) I have to be myself, no one can cage me in; 2) if I join, it has to be long term; 3) I’m coming back to win. He said, “That’s why we’re here.”
But can you explain exactly what you do?
“My role hasn’t changed, it’s still the same, I represent the owners. Last year, I did more than I had to do. No one asked me to, I felt like doing it, but I didn’t like it because if I can’t be myself, I don’t feel good. I don’t want to be caged in, and in fact, I didn’t want to have an office. I go to the people I need to talk to.“
The impression is that you ended up filling the gaps in the staff.
”Yes, the club added what was missing. Now there’s someone who is always in contact with the players and the coach. That’s Igli Tare, and he does it well. I come here to Casa Milan, sometimes I go to Milanello: I talk every day with Furlani and Gerry, who is very involved. We study what is needed to improve Milan, we make strategies, and in the end, Gerry decides, but he trusts the people in the company a lot. I am also involved in the corporate side and the entertainment area of RedBird. I’m someone who, if I don’t know something, keeps quiet, watches, and learns. Of course, in other areas, I have more experience and speak more, or much more.“
For example, did you speak in the locker room in Turin? Did you pin Leao against the wall?
”There’s a coach, and if I can help without disturbing him, I do. But you don’t go over the coach’s head, you just make things difficult for him. I may be more of a friend to him than the players, but I’m still Ibra with Ibra’s experience. Before, I only had one mode, which was strong, but over time I’ve learned that to get into the players’ heads, sometimes you have to be softer. And you have to insist.”
Going back to Leao…
“Well, in Turin, I was in the locker room. Everyone was angry, everyone, Allegri, because we could have won. Even Leao, who had missed two goals. Let’s remember that during preseason, he was the best, then he was out for two months, and now he has to get back in shape. Of course, we expect magic, because Leao is magic! Of course we’ll always talk about him, because he’s one of the best players in the world, and I’m not saying that for marketing reasons, but because I played soccer. I saw him as a kid, now he has two children: it’s a journey. They say he’s already 26, but I didn’t mature until I was 28. And anyway, when we won the Scudetto, I can say that he won it on his own…”
But how? You were there.
“I don’t take credit, I want to give it to others. That was my role that year. At the beginning of the season, I asked: how many of you have won something? One, maybe two, raised their hands. And how many have played in the Champions League? Again, one or two. It was a group of players who were on the bench in their previous teams, they needed an alpha player, a leader to follow. It was all ‘Ibra, shall we go right or left? When we were losing, I would say ‘just send me to talk to them’ so we could leave the team alone: for me, it was like having breakfast. A strong group was born, and it began to fly. When we won the Scudetto, I saw them crying, and it was the most satisfying feeling. But I said it right away on the first day of my return, go check it out.”
And what do you feel like saying this year?
“That the team is very competitive and capable of achieving good results. It was already like that last year, but it was a strange year. As soon as we recovered, we fell again, but we learned a lot. Anyway, we won a trophy and came second in the Coppa Italia. But we are Milan, we know that. The club has been very good at selling players who weren’t part of the project or for other reasons, and it has chosen an experienced coach who brings balance and stability. And he has brought what was missing: a bit of experience.“
What is Ibra doing, hiding? That’s not like you.
”If you know me a little, you know that my mentality is different from everyone else’s. It’s a winning mentality.”
Is aiming for fourth place not enough?
“Milan’s DNA is to win, especially in Europe, and that’s where we need to get back to. Nobody wants to change Milan, its culture or its tradition. Also because I’ll give you a rule: nobody changes Milan, it’s Milan that changes you. At Milanello, you can smell victory, and after you’ve been there, you’re not the same player anymore. At Milanello, from the cook to the gardener, everyone makes sure that Allegri and the team can perform at their best.”
Can Modric be for this Milan what you were in the year you won the Scudetto?
“We’re different. He’s a leader on the pitch, he doesn’t take up much space off it, but he’s brought the experience that was missing. Even if he hadn’t played brilliantly, just being around him would have given you something. On the pitch, we told him, ‘Go on and do it’. Am I surprised by how he’s playing? No, he’s been playing like this for twenty years. Many players stay at the top for two years and then you don’t see them anymore. Others stay at the top for twenty years and are true champions even if they don’t win the Ballon d’Or: we have one in front of us.”
Rabiot is also contributing a lot.
“He was supposed to come a year ago, we tried, but he wanted to play in France.”
Who could be the surprise?
“Pavlovic can still improve. Gimenez will score a lot of goals as soon as he breaks through. Jashari is top notch. Ricci will also grow: the team is the right mix of present and future prospects.”
Has Allegri changed much since you coached him?
“I helped him win his first trophy. Everyone in that Milan team was a champion, the hard part was sending them to the bench, they played on autopilot. He was very good at managing them. Now it’s different, there are fewer big egos, it’s a very approachable team. Allegri has also come a long way, he’s already won a lot, he knows how to do it.“
What about your opponents? Napoli, Inter, Juve? ”I don’t look at the others, but not out of arrogance, because if I depend on others, it means I’m not strong enough. I have to become strong, and the others have to look at me.”
Then at least tell me about Chivu.
“I’ve known him since his Ajax days. It was a talented team, and he was the most mature. Mentally and as a person. He was a champion. It’s too early to judge him as a coach. I wish him luck, but he doesn’t have to win…”
Your two sons, Maximilian, 19, and Vincent, 17, both play for Milan: one for Milan’s future, the other for the Under-18s. What kind of father are you? Apprehensive? Do you follow them? Closely or from a distance?
“Until they were 16, they had their mother’s surname. Then they came to me to tell me they wanted to be called Ibrahimovic. They were ready, they felt it, I made them understand that it wouldn’t be easy.”
No involvement with the coaches?
“When they started, I didn’t set foot in Vismara for two years. I don’t know if I was wrong, because I’m also a father who wants to enjoy their moments, but I didn’t want to cause confusion. Now that they’re playing, I help, I give advice, I follow them. But I judge them like everyone else. What really made me angry was all the nonsense that came out. For example, that Camarda didn’t sign because of me. I didn’t even get involved in signing my son. It wouldn’t be fair: if they get there, it has to be on their own merits. Obviously, if it were up to me, they would play in the first team and for the national team. But they are as important as everyone else in our Academy.”
By the way, Milan Futuro was relegated to the amateur league after one year in Serie C.
“We didn’t create a team to ‘survive’ in Serie C. We built a platform designed to bridge the gap between the Primavera and the first team,” explains Ibra, “a fundamental step that had been missing for too long, and to develop talent. It’s a long-term project that involves the entire youth sector: from Primavera to the First Team. The owners believed strongly in it and decided to invest with conviction, and they are satisfied with the work that Kirovski and Vergine are doing.“
So, you’re not going to mention the word ‘scudetto’?
”Do I believe in it? Yes, we all have to believe in it. But it’s a process, it’s a team effort.“ Excuse me: have we gone from Ibra God to me and us? ”Wait a minute: Ibra is still God. When I was on the field, I had all the answers, but in the stands, I still suffer because I can’t help the team. I have no personal goals; everything I do is for Milan. And to get back to winning.”
