A longer interview with the Swedish football star will be in Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday. A shorter excerpt has already been published, which Football-Italia took note of.

In it, Ibrahimovic says cryptically about the future:

- Ibra plays to win, otherwise he stays at home. They told me it was too easy to end my career in the United States, so I came back to Milan. I'm here only for the passion, because I play pretty much for free ..., says the Swede.

- Then the covid situation stopped everything and I thought it might be a sign that I should quit. But fortunately we got back to the plan.

Ibrahimovic was injured just before the league reboot in mid-June. He is back and has played in the last three matches, and has scored two goals - one of which when Milan turned and won (4-2) against series leader Juventus on Tuesday.

He has a contract with Milan in August. The question is what the future looks like next.

- Ibra was born to play football and is still best at playing football. We'll see how I feel in two months. We also get to see what happens to the club. If this is the situation, it is unlikely that you will see me in Milan next season, he says.

He talks about the confrontation with CEO Ivan Gazidis recently.

- I talked to myself and the team. I wanted some answers for the future, both for me and for Milan. I said that today's Milan is not the big club that I experienced before, but that we have to do everything even in this situation - until the end, he says.

He does not say it outright but hints that he has higher ambitions than Milan. Right now, the club is in seventh place in the league, 16 points from a Champions League spot, just two to a Europa League spot. There are seven rounds remaining.

- Ibra is not a player for the Europa League and Milan is not a club belonging to the Europa League.

Ibrahimovic says Milan needs him not to lose supporters.

- I do not know if there will be another club after Milan, I have never liked to close any doors. But I just go somewhere where I have control, not where words don't mean anything. I still have a lot of passion for what I do.

Milan no longer deny that they are considering replacing coach Stefano Pioli with Ralf Rangnick. But Ibrahimovic is not impressed:

- Who is Rangnick? I don't even know who he is.

CLIP: Here, Zlatan Milan begins his unbelievable turn against Juventus (July 7, 2020)

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