Zlatan Ibrahimovic was back training with AC Milan today a full 11 days before his side’s Europa League trip to Celtic Park, Sky Sport Italy has reported.
Sky Sport states that the striker is ready to make up for lost time after testing positive for Covid a couple of weeks ago. The positive test led to him missing four matches for Milan, who managed to qualify for the Europa League without their key man.
However, Sky reports that he’s working towards a start in this weekend’s Milan derby at the San Siro against Inter. That would give him some minutes into his legs ahead of the crucial trip to Celtic Park only five days later.
Ominously, Ibrahimovic has still managed to score three goals in only two competitive AC Milan appearances since joining in the summer.
And it looks as though Milan are going to have him primed and ready for Parkhead when there was confusion last week regarding when he would return.
No concerns; time to meet the challenge head on
It’s easy to be fearful. This is a player who is capable of the stupendous and the ridiculous, and we mean that in a good way of course.
But this has to be the ultimate challenge for the likes of Kris Ajer, Shane Duffy, and Christopher Jullien respectively. For a defence who have been so ridiculed for failing to compete with powerful strikers, what an acid test it is to come up against Swedish legend Ibrahimovic.
Earlier on this afternoon, we spoke about just how vital it is for Celtic’s players to develop their talents against the best players they possibly could. With all due respect to back-up Milan strikers Lorenzo Colombo or Daniel Maldini – they don’t have the quality Ibrahimovic does.
For an up-and-coming centre-back such as Ajer, he must view this as a massive opportunity to show he can deal with some of the best in Europe. You can debate whether Ibrahimovic has lost a yard here and there. At 39, there are bound to be some deficiencies there – but don’t be fooled. He can still do magical things with a football.
So it looks like any concerns over his availability can be put to bed. He’ll be fit for Celtic Park – Milan will be making sure of it.
It’s time to see exactly how well our defence can compete against such an incredible level of footballer.
In other news, the Celtic supporters are fed up after today’s latest scare.
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