Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Champions League hopes take a curtain call as AC Milan fade out against Liverpool

Zlatan Ibrahimovic racked up a goal, an assist and two shots in just nine minutes. Unfortunately for the Swede, it was not enough to save AC Milan from defeat against Liverpool at Anfield. The result leaves them with nothing but pride as they fall on their own sword of failure despite having one foot firmly in the Champions League final.

The “how old is zlatan ibrahimovic” is a question that has been asked before. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Champions League hopes took a curtain call as AC Milan faded out against Liverpool.

MILAN, Italy — Despite a brilliant CV that includes 20 years of playing for Europe’s greatest teams, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never won the Champions League. And now, after AC Milan’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool at San Siro, the 40-year-old may have played his last game in the league.

Milan may be on the mend, but Ibrahimovic has succumbed to the passage of time. Another Mohamed Salah goal, his seventh in as many Champions League away games, and a Divock Origi header clinched Liverpool’s victory after Fikayo Tomori’s 29th-minute opening, ensuring they finished first in Group B with a perfect record.

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Milan wanted Ibrahimovic to turn back the clock and motivate them to victory on a night when they needed to recall the spirit of their great teams — unrivaled Champions League-winning squads.

Group B

In the end, the former Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus, Internazionale, Barcelona, PSG, and Manchester United striker seemed to be a fading star with nothing more to contribute and his fading dream of winning the Champions League completely destroyed.

“That is football,” Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, stated. “We strive to form a team to prevent him [Ibrahimovic] from obtaining the ball. We did a fantastic job defending.”

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He is nothing near Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s phenomenal Champions League goalscoring totals, and he would dearly want to have won just one of the nine European Cups those two legends have won between them to add to the 31 trophies he has won over his career. Ibrahimovic was third in international football’s superstar hierarchy for many years, although a long way behind Ronaldo and Messi, and his legacy will be one of amazing consistency and supreme fitness.

But he was a shell of his former self against Liverpool. Ibrahimovic failed to win physical fights with Ibrahima Konate and Nathaniel Phillips, and his lack of mobility kept him rooted to the center of the field. Ibrahimovic had the fewest touches of any player who played the full 90 minutes. In the 84th minute, there was a flash of old Zlatan as he tried an overhead kick from Franck Kessie’s cross, but it was a mistimed connection and Liverpool’s goal was not threatened.

Salah and Sadio Mane, on the other hand, wreaked havoc on Milan with the speed and movement that Ibrahimovic can no longer deliver. Salah and Mane, of course, already have a Champions League winner’s medal, thanks to Liverpool’s triumph in 2019. Klopp’s club has a good chance of winning the championship again this season, and no one wants to play them between now and the final in Saint Petersburg in May.

By that point, Ibrahimovic could have won Serie A for the seventh time, but the Champions League isn’t going to happen. Zlatan will not be doing his Last Dance.

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