Euro 2021 news - Zlatan Ibrahimovic is aiming to win the tournament with Sweden on his return
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ByEurosport
Updated 22/03/2021 at 21:36 GMT
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has returned to the Sweden national team having retired from international football five years ago. Ibra has scored 15 goals in 15 Serie A appearances for AC Milan so far this season. Sweden take on Georgia and Kosovo in World Cup qualifiers this month and also face Estonia in a friendly.
Zlatan breaks down in tears during Sweden press conference
Zlatan Ibrahimovic told reporters ahead of his return to international action this week that he is going to win the European Championships with Sweden this summer.
Ibrahimovic was named in coach Janne Andersson's squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Kosovo, five years after the striker retired from the national team.
The 39-year-old scored 62 goals in 116 internationals before quitting the team following their exit at the group stage of Euro 2016.
He joined up with his teammates on Monday and told reporters that he is going to win the tournament:
If I’m going to be a part of the squad for the Euros we’re going to win the Euros. I only play to win.
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'I can't have that on zero' – Ibrahimovic vows to score at a World Cup for Sweden
Even though he is approaching the end of his decorated career, Ibrahimovic says his age does not matter and that he is the same player he was five years ago when he retired from international football.
"I promised to stop when I’m on top," he said.
"But then I asked myself 'when is the top?' I still feel at the top. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. If you’re not at the top and come into a team because of your name, I don’t like that. I’m here because I deserve it.
“I’m the same player now as I was in 2016, but I play in a different way. I focus on being deadly in the last third, that’s what I’m supposed to do. I’m much smarter now, I don’t think I’m better, I’m just different.
“If I see an end of my career? At the moment I don’t. I just want to play my football as long as I can. As long as you can you have to do what you love. Football is what I stand for, what I love and what I want to do.
“At my age it’s not normal to perform as well as I do, to play as many games as I do, to play for a club like AC Milan being on top. I want to prove the opposite, it’s a challenge every day. I can’t be physically 100%, but as long as I can feel well I can play well.
I asked Alexander Isak for the number 11 shirt, he told me: 'Yes, but only if I get it back in six-seven years.' I told him that's fine. Then Emil Forsberg called and asked me if I wanted number 10. I said no, that was the old Zlatan. This is a new chapter.
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