I’M A LION KING
Roaring Zlatan rolls back the years to prove ’em all wrong
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC reckons he’s a lion who has become king of the Premier League jungle.
The Swedish superstar, 35, has taken English football by storm since joining Manchester United on a free transfer last summer.
His 26 goals have kept United on course for a hat-trick of trophies, with his two at Wembley on Sunday helping to see off Southampton to win the EFL Cup.
The veteran continues to make mugs of those who doubted he could be a success on these shores at the tail end of his glorious career.
He said: “I look good. I know I look good. I feel fresh. I feel good. I feel like an animal.
‘‘It is special to prove people wrong. Not about age. I was not worried about age because I know what I am able to do.
“It is because I am here in England. After all these years people said, ‘He didn’t come and show himself here’ – but I came. And I came when people thought it was impossible for me to do what I am able to do.
Believed
“It feels good. I am enjoying it. I’m just trying to be myself. What I bring, I bring a package. I bring my experience from the other clubs I’ve been in, I bring what I have achieved. People always say I’m difficult to handle and that I have a different character – but still I won wherever I went.
“The important thing is that I believed what I predicted. That is exactly what I am doing. I am a lion – the lion is born a lion.”
Ibrahimovic has carried United for most of the season but reckons he gets what he deserves due to his attitude and the effort he puts into his preparation.
He said: “I train hard. People who know me from the locker room know I train very hard. I have an objective every season.
“To reach that objective I need to train hard and suffer when I train, that is how I achieve what I achieve.
“I’m from the old school where they get what they get from doing the hard work, not like the new school where it is easy to get what you want.”
His latest winner’s medal is the 32nd of a glittering career which has taken him from Malmo to Old Trafford via Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris St-Germain.
The not-so-modest Ibrahimovic insists he needs a separate house or museum to keep them all.
There is nothing left for him to achieve or prove, but he has no intention of slowing down and wants to go out on top.
Hungry
He added: “I am still doing what I have been doing every year but some people won’t accept it or admit it because I don’t do it in their home ground. I have come to their home ground and now I am doing exactly the same thing that I have been doing all the years.
“Let’s see what happens. According to many I could not do what I’ve been doing. In my head I’m never satisfied, I always want more. I’m hungry to do more. I’m not satisfied with what I’m doing, I always want more.
“This is my 32nd trophy in five different countries, I’ve been in the best clubs in the world and I’m repeating every year what I am doing.
“This is another chapter in my career. I will stop on top. I will not play one game by being Ibrahimovic and for what I did before. If I don’t perform, if I don’t bring results, I will not play.
“I will not be like other players, playing because they make a great career and name and they are still playing because they are who they are. I will play as long as I can bring results.”