“Goodbye”: Zlatan Ibrahimovic bids farewell to Milan in tears and announces the end of his career

The club has announced a “short farewell ceremony” for Ibrahimovic. However, emotions ran high on all sides.

Ibrahimovic was welcomed with the choreography “GodBye”, a play on words between “God” (God) and “Goodbye” (goodbye), in the home match against Hellas Verona (3:1), in which he was only on the bench by injury. In response, he formed a heart with his hands, visibly touched.

The match became less of a matter when football legend Ibrahimovic received his ceremony: he was high-fived by an enthusiastic trellis of teammates and club employees, and a red carpet was rolled out.

As a gift, the club gave him a Milan shirt with his legendary number 11, signed by all the players.

“The time has come to say goodbye to football”

At the latest during his farewell speech, the otherwise confident “Ibra” broke the dam when he added one more thing to his farewell to Milan: “The time has come to say goodbye to football.”

Some fans looked shocked, but ultimately that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for their idol. The whole stadium enthusiastically chanted his name as tears flowed from the Swedes.

The 41-year-old Swede thanked his team-mates, managers, wife and above all the fans with moving words: “You welcomed me with open arms. You made me feel at home. I will spend my whole life remaining a Milan supporter for a long time.”

Ibrahimovic concluded his speech by saying: “Come on Milan and goodbye”.

Milan coach Pioli: “He’s a champion”

The comment of the Milan coach Stefano Pioli: “He has an incredible mentality, he wins from Monday to Sunday. I spoke to him often, the conversations weren’t always easy and we even fought. But he always worked for the well-being of the team,” said Pioli.

“He’s a champion and I’m very sad because I can’t coach him anymore. We were all very moved. Up until yesterday he was the first to arrive and the last to leave. This made the difference.” Pioli on the 121-time Sweden international.

A video of Zlatan’s farewell speech was posted on the Serie A Twitter account, along with the comment: “We will miss you forever.”