Tag: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Categories
football Slides Sports News

IBRAHIMOVIC’S DOUBLE HELP AC MILAN EDGE CAGLIARI, SENDS MILAN BACK TO TOP OF TABLE.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice on his first start in two months as AC Milan beat Cagliari 2-0 on Monday to pull ahead of city rivals Inter on top of the Serie A table.

Ibrahimovic, 39, got the first from the penalty spot after seven minutes, adding a second just after the break in Sardinia.

Milan, targeting their first league title since 2011 when Ibrahimovic last played in the team, pull three points ahead of Inter who beat champions Juventus 2-0 in the San Siro on Sunday.

“This victory is a sign above all to ourselves more than Inter,” said coach Stefano Pioli.

We all want to bring Milan back to the top. The team will do everything from here to the end.

“Now we have an important game against Atalanta (Saturday), we focus on that, then in March and April we will see where we are.”

Ibrahimovic proved he has returned to his best after injury, with the club set to sign former Juventus and Bayern Munich forward Mario Mandzukic to help their title push.

“Ibra will take care of keeping him (Mandzukic) at bay,” joked Pioli.

The Swede brought his tally to 12 goals in eight games with five doubles, including a brace on 22 November against Napoli, when he picked up the thigh injury which sidelined him.

Milan shook of the absences of defender Theo Hernandez and midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu who tested positive for coronavirus .

The visitors quickly took control of the game after Cagliari defender Charalampos Lykogiannis fouled Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic decided to take the penalty ahead of regular spot kicker Franck Kessie after the Swede had missed twice from the spot twice before his injury.

Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno cleared a long-range Davide Calabria effort after 24 minutes with the Italy defender hitting the post 10 minutes later.

Back after the break Ibrahimovic connected with Calabria’s long-range effort finishing off with the goal confirmed after a VAR review.

Milan held their advantage despite playing the final quarter of an hour a man down after Alexis Saelemaekers was sent off for two bookings, ten minutes after coming off the bench.

Cagliari, just above the relegation zone in 17th position, fall to their fifth consecutive defeat on an 11-match winless run stretching back to November 7.

Milan next play sixth-placed Atalanta to keep their push for a 19th ‘Scudetto’ and return to Champions League football for the first time since the 2013-2014 season on track.

Pioli welcomed the arrival of 34-year-old Mandzukic as “one more weapon”.

“I’m happy, the more strong players we have the better,” said Pioli.

“I talked to him, he’s motivated. Maybe it will take some time for him to get in shape because he hasn’t played for a while, but he’s a winner.”

Ibrahimovic added: “I’m happy, we’ll now be two to scare the opponents.

“We’re doing well, almost halfway through the championship.

“Now the most difficult matches are starting, It’ll be a tough programme, but with Mandzukic and (Soualiho) Meite and I don’t know if others arrive we’ll have more players available for the coach to rotate.”

Categories
football Slides Sports News

SERIE A: AGELESS IBRAHIMOVIC’S BRACE HELP AC MILAN BEAT NAPOLI: INTER MILAN COME FROM BEHIND TO DEFEAT TORINO.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains unstoppable and AC Milan remain unbeaten atop Serie A.

The 39-year-old Ibrahimovic scored twice to raise his total to 10 goals in six games played as Milan won 3-1 at Napoli on Sunday.

“He seems even stronger now than he was 10-12 years ago,” said Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso, who teamed with Ibrahimovic when Milan last won the Italian league in 2011.

However, there was concern for Ibrahimovic when he exited toward the end clutching his hamstring. The Swedish superstar already missed two games this season after contracting the coronavirus.

” It looks like a muscular problem but we’ll have to wait a few days to understand the extent of it,” said Milan assistant coach Daniele Bonera, who was standing in for head coach Stefano Pioli, who has the coronavirus .

The Rossoneri again moved two points ahead of Sassuolo, which won 2-0 at Hellas Verona earlier to also remain undefeated through eight rounds.

Having also beaten Inter Milan in the city derby and drawn with Roma, Milan’s unexpected title credentials are growing week by week.

Milan finished no better than fifth the past seven seasons.

“It shows that we’re on the right track,” Bonera said. “But it’s really premature after eight rounds to talk about what might happen in May. There’s a long way to go.”

Ibrahimovic soared above Kalidou Koulibaly to head in from long range following a cross from Theo Hernandez midway through the first half.

After Giovanni Di Lorenzo hit the crossbar for Napoli, Ibrahimovic used his thigh to steer in another goal by the far post following a cross from Ante Rebic near the hour mark.

Dries Mertens pulled one back for Napoli less than 10 minutes later from close range after getting away from Alessio Romagnoli.

But Napoli’s comeback quickly lost steam when Tiémoué Bakayoko was sent off after picking up his second yellow card for a foul on Hernandez.

Jens Petter Hauge added another goal for Milan five minutes into stoppage time, from a tight angle.

INTER COMEBACK

Two late goals helped Inter Milan fight back from 2-0 down to beat Torino 4-2 thanks to an inspired Romelu Lukaku.

Both sides had players ruled out with the coronavirus . Torino was also missing coach Marco Giampaolo because of the virus and forward Andrea Belotti pulled out injured during the warmup.

His replacement, Simone Zaza, fired Torino in front on the stroke of halftime and Cristian Ansaldi doubled the visitors’ lead in the 62nd from the penalty spot after Ashley Young fouled Wilfried Stephane Singo.

Inter pulled one back just two minutes later as Lukaku’s shot came off the crossbar with Alexis Sánchez managing to fire in the rebound.

Lukaku then hit the post before turning in Sánchez’s cross.

And Inter’s comeback was complete six minutes from time when Lukaku converted a penalty after Achraf Hakimi was tripped in the area by Nicolas Nkoulou.

Inter sealed the match in the final minute when Lukaku ran down the left and rolled across for Lautaro Martínez to tap in.

SUPER SASSUOLO

It is only Sassuolo’s eighth season in the Italian top flight and the team has never finished higher than sixth. But a Champions League spot is now in sight for the Emilia-Romagna club.

Verona dominated the match, hitting the woodwork four times. But Sassuolo broke the deadlock three minutes from the interval and against the run of play.

Jérémie Boga latched onto Domenico Berardi’s crossfield pass and curled it into the far top corner.

Berardi got onto the scoresheet himself in the 76th minute as Verona players failed to close him down before he unleashed a shot that took a slight deflection to dip under the crossbar.

Sassuolo remained one point ahead of third-place Roma, which beat Parma 3-0.

OTHER MATCHES

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored twice in an impressive first half for Roma after Borja Mayoral’s opener.

Mkhitaryan has now scored five goals in his last two Serie A matches.

Cesare Prandelli’s first match back in charge of Fiorentina ended in a 1-0 defeat at home to Benevento.

Also, Bologna won 2-1 at Sampdoria and Udinese beat Genoa 1-0.

Categories
football Slides Sports News

ZLATAN STARS AGAIN AS AC MILAN EDGE UDINESE TO GO FOUR POINTS CLEAR ON TOP OF SERIE A TABLE.

AC Milan extended their unbeaten streak as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an acrobatic late winner to seal a 2-1 win over Udinese.

The 39-year-old has scored seven goals in four league games having missed the other two after contracting Covid-19.

“Mine was a good goal but the victory of the team counts more,” said Ibrahimovic.

“It was a difficult match, we showed that in difficult moments the team works well together.

“We are among the youngest teams in Europe, I take the blame for raising the average age, but they all make me feel younger.”

The Swedish star set up Franck Kessie for the opener after 18 minutes before Rodrigo de Paul pulled Udinese level three minutes after the break from the penalty spot, beating Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma on his return from coronavirus.

But Ibrahimovic snatched the three points seven minutes from time, acrobatically outwitting Udinese defenders Rodrigo Becao and Sebastien De Maio, to smash an overhead kick past goalkeeper Juan Musso.

AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 24 consecutive matches since competition return in June after the coronavirus lockdown.

Udinese are in the relegation zone after their fifth defeat this season.

Categories
football Sports News

IBRAHIMOVIC DECLARES SELF FIT AFTER TESTING NEGATIVE TO COVID-19.

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back available for selection after recovering from coronavirus, reports say.

As the report mentions, Zlatan was ruled out for Milan after being the latest high-profile player to contract COVID-19. Though he reported no symptoms of the virus, the positive test left him unable to feature for the Serie A giants.

The international break was likely welcomed by the big Swede. It offered him an opportunity to recover from the illness and get back into training with Milan as soon as possible ahead of their upcoming fixture schedule.

Some reports from Italy claim Ibrahimovic’s test came back positive once again in Milan’s latest round of testing, Ibra himself took to his Twitter account to announce he was now COVID free.

We would include the tweet in the article, but Zlatan’s decided to use some colourful language to express his delight at his release from quarantine.

Whether his latest test did come back positive and Zlatan alone has declared himself a free man, as he would likely think he has the authority to do so, is unclear, but Milan fans won’t be asking questions. Ibrahimovic is back and, on a more serious note, is healthy and COVID-free.