FOR The Lion, there is one meaty treat remaining — the Champions League.
For all the achievements of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, that is the one missing from the Swede’s collection of silverware.
Thirty-three trophies in all but, during spells at Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milanand Paris Saint-Germain, he missed the cup with the big ears. Now with Manchester United, Ibra, 36, believes he has the chance to put that right.
Despite defeat in Basel on Wednesday, United are virtually assured of qualifying from Group A for the last 16. CSKA Moscow would have to win by six clear goals at Old Trafford in the final group game on December 5 to KO Jose Mourinho’s men. And Ibra, who has taken to calling himself more lion than human, could be roaring at the final in Kiev next May. He said: “Of course, winning the Champions League would be massive, huge. That is one of the targets, every season. Wherever I have gone, I have won. “I didn’t win the Champions League, which everybody knows but I’m doing everything to win it.
“And, if I could, I would be on top of the world. “But in my career, I won everything. I see many players, they won the World Cup and they didn’t even put their foot on the field, yet they still say they have won the World Cup!
“I won 33 trophies. I won in Holland. I won in Italy. I won in France. I won in Spain. I won in England. I won in five different countries, so my career is full of achievements.
“I don’t know who to compare it to. Say players in a club like, Steven Gerrard, with all the respect. He won the Champions League but never the Premier League. “If you ask him what he would rather win, I think he would say the Premier League. So in the long term, it’s about what you achieved.
“For me the aim is to win every year. It’s not an excuse that I don’t want to win the Champions League.” Ibra, who hit 28 goals last term, has just returned to the United side after seven months out with a knee injury. But Romelu Lukaku’s dozen strikes since his summer arrival has certainly taken away the goalscoring strain. Ibra added: “The team is stronger this season.
“Lukaku is in the team scoring a lot of goals, and he is making the job easier for me, because last year when we were playing we could not change that role.
“We had one scoring the goals and doing that job, and there were no variations for the coach. This season it is easier.
“Lukaku is only positive, because he makes my ‘comeback’ less pressured, it gives me a lot of time, and I’m happy for that.”
From The Sun
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