Milan (AFP)

The return of the "Lion". After two seasons in the United States, the Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic finds AC Milan, at 38, to revive, by his strokes of genius and his famous bagou, a dying team.

Seven years later, his long black hair is still pulled back: the striker on Friday made his comeback in the club where he played between 2010 and 2012, as a new challenge against time.

The Swede, who was free of any contract since leaving the Los Angeles Galaxy in mid-November, signed a six-month contract with AC Milan, with an optional additional year, the club said in a statement.

"I'm going back to the city I love," said the Swedish striker, quoted in the club statement.

This signature had been awaited for several weeks, fanned by Zlatan himself, never short of ideas to create excitement around his name.

"See you soon in Italy," he said to GQ Italia magazine in early December, promising to "find the stimuli necessary to surprise you again."

That's good, his new house is asking for that. AC Milan, one of the worst attacks in the country, stagnates in 11th place in the Championship, and remains on a scathing defeat (5-0) against Atalanta Bergamo.

The Lombard club almost ditched the top 4 in the championship, qualifying for the Champions League, a competition it has not contested since the 2013/14 season. AC Milan are currently 14 points behind fourth, AS Roma.

- Signs of decline? -

On paper, the marriage seems perfect between the team in search of its past glory and the revenge player, who had left Europe on a mixed note.

Their previous union was also a success, with a title of champion in 2011 - the last of the Milanese - and the trophy for top scorer in Serie A for the Swede in 2012 (28 goals).

After four prolific seasons at Paris SG between 2012 and 2016, Ibrahimovic showed signs of decline at Manchester United, where his departure was precipitated by several injuries, including a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of a knee in 2017, and statistics in half-mast (1 goal in seven matches in 2017/18).

But his two seasons at the Los Angeles Galaxy have reassured him about his form and his ability to be decisive. "Lions do not recover like humans," he said, with his famous sense of repartee.

With a record of 54 goals and 17 assists, the former Inter and Barça assumed his status as an MLS superstar, even though he did not win a title with the California franchise.

In the United States, he stacked the "highlights" and released a second autobiography, soberly entitled "Le football, c'est moi", which shows that the player has lost none of his inimitable style, sharpened by an acute sense of spectacle and an oversized ego.

At the age when most players are on the decline, the Malmö native is trying to stretch an already very rich story (Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, ​​AC Milan, PSG, Manchester United) where he has almost everything won - except the Champions League -, to offer a way out that matches his talent.

Like Zlatan before him, Thierry Henry and David Beckham returned to Europe, at the end of their career, after an exile across the Atlantic, but without regaining their luster of yesteryear. Succeeding where these stars have failed is a challenge to the size of the Swede.

© 2019 AFP