Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Adrenaline

Translated by Antony Shugaar

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Translated from the Italian Adrenalina My Untold Stories
First published in Italy by Cairo 2021
First published in Great Britain by Penguin Books 2022

Copyright Zlatan Ibrahimovi, 2021
RCS MediaGroup S.p.A., Milan, 2021
English-language translation copyright Word Row Inc., 2022

The moral right of the copyright holders has been asserted

Cover photograph Settimio Benedusi
Cover design PEPE nymi

ISBN: 978-0-241-99609-6

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I love bicycle kicks. I love kicking the ball high in the air, using my feet, even though theyre the lowest part of my body.

Before dropping back to earth, theres that moment when I see everything upside down, and thats when everybody else my teammates, the referee, the fans is suddenly turned on their heads. Its an exclusive, privileged view of the world. Mine and mine alone.

So let me dedicate this book to everyone who likes to overturn the usual rules and expectations. Because its only by following your instincts, with tenacity and determination, dedication and grit, that your own vision of the world can be unique like mine.

Okay, I give up.

Im forty years old.

Im a god, but Im also a god whos getting old.

Im finally coming to terms with it, just like Im coming to terms with the fact that my body isnt what it used to be. For years Ive ignored the signals my bodys been trying to send me, but at last Ive decided to pay attention. I cant dart back and forth and sprint the way I did when I was young; if I get tired or I get clattered, it takes me longer to recover. Ive modified my style of play to match this new body of mine. I no longer spend the whole match in the penalty area where shots fly in all directions. I dont necessarily shout for the ball any more; instead I create play for the team. These days Im more likely to be assisting other players goals than trying to score them myself. Im no longer looking for the spotlight Ive won everything I needed to win. Now its more about inspiring my young teammates and helping them to grow and mature.

Im forty and I have two sons who are no longer boys; theyre already young men. Generally speaking, at this age you draw a line under everything youve done and you start working on a reckoning a first rough review of what your life has been and meant.

Thats what this book is about.

For days and days Ive been trying to pretend nothing is happening, ignoring the fact that my birthday is drawing closer. Ive tried to keep from seeing the number forty, but then last night there it was, enormous and bright red, covering the entire faade of a hotel. Theyd created it by lighting up some rooms and leaving others dark.

In that Milan hotel, my wife Helena threw a surprise party that touched me deeply. My nearest and dearest were there, friends from all over the globe, the most important people in my life. There were legends of the football world, trainers and coaches, even players Ive treated badly on the pitch. I didnt expect to see all those people in one place, on that terrace.

Gennaro Rino Gattuso, who had been head coach at Napoli, explained it to me this way: Youve always been your authentic self, even when you were beating them up. Thats why they showed up.

Helena did a great job. She organized the whole thing while managing to keep it a secret. She gave me a wonderful gift. Usually its me who presents gifts to others.

Ive already told many times the story of how I left my neighbourhood to become a world football champion. I grew up with a battered Select soccer ball glued to my foot, dribbling my way around anyone who put themselves in my path in the Rose Garden Rosengrd, the name of my childhood neighbourhood which was home to immigrants of all kinds. The slightest spark was enough to start us banging heads. But that tiny patch of hard-packed dirt was the workshop where I built my game, the school where I learned the tricks that made me Ibra.

I was born to a couple who divorced early. I shuttled back and forth between a mother who worked herself to death to put food on our table and a father whose refrigerator was often empty. What I lacked, I went and got for myself. I would steal bikes and clothing because I was sick of being made fun of at school. I always wore football socks instead of normal ones, and Malm team tracksuits that I stole from the dressing room.

Then football yanked me out of the ghetto and guided me towards a very different way of life. I landed in Amsterdam, where I bought my first Porsche and met Mino Raiola, my agent. He and my wife Helena are, and always will be, the two most important people in my life.

Mino is much more than an agent and businessman to me. Hes a friend, a brother, a father everything, really. He charted the route my career would follow, mapped my triumphs, helped me get out of my toughest moments and solved thousands of problems for me. The more pain and suffering I was going through after some injury, the closer to him I felt. From the Netherlands, Mino took me to Italy, then Spain, France, England and America, then back to Italy.

Helena has always been more mature and responsible than I am. Shes helped me to stop and think, shes taught me common sense and good taste. She knows how to recognize and create beautiful things she has a distinct gift for elegance. That was her vocation, and it will continue to be even after I stop playing. Over the years shes plucked the sharper thorns out of my somewhat wild personality and, most important of all, has given me the gift thats precious above anything else: my sons.

But if everyone is familiar with Ibra the football player, they still dont know Ibra the man.

Im now going to try to tell you about me, at this midway point, as my story as a football player is coming to an end and a very different future approaches a future that, for now, waits to be clearly defined.

Each chapter of this book starts out with stories from the pitch and concludes with reflections on everyday life: from goals to happiness, from referees to justice, from assists to friendship, from injuries to death

I dont hang back, I dont play-act, I dont pretend its just like Gattuso told me. Ill admit, for instance, that the thought of quitting makes me deeply anxious. The closer I come to the day I leave football, the greater my fear for the future: where will I find the adrenaline that in my present life I get from facing defenders like Giorgio Chiellini?