Ibrahimovic is a legend. At 40, he is still an important player at Milan, where he has teammates who weren’t even born when the Swede made his debut at Malmo in 1999. From that date until now, Ibrahimovic has seen many great players debut, and they withdrew. Let’s see several of these cases.
The Spanish goalkeeper had a successful career at Barça and the Spanish National Team, although in this one as a substitute. Valdés made his debut in 2002, and coincided with Ibra at Barça, but injuries led him to retire in 2017 when he was a member of Middlesbrough.
The Argentine striker made his debut in 1999 at Racing de Avellaneda, the same debut year as Ibrahimovic, however, Diego Milito’s career ended in 2016, at the same club, after passing through Zaragoza, Inter Milan (where he played with Ibrahimovic ) and Genoa.
The historic German striker began his professional career in the Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern. In 1999 he made his debut, the same year as the Swedish striker, but he retired in 2016 when he was a member of Lazio. These players did not coincide in any team, but without a doubt they are two of the most legendary strikers of his generation.
The Briton began his career in the Premier at the hands of Everton in 2002, which earned him his signing for Manchester United, where he would make history and coincide with Ibra for two seasons. Rooney retired last year at Derby County, where he acted as manager and player.
The legendary Spanish goalkeeper has a parallel path to Ibra, as he also made his debut in 1999 with Real Madrid. After leaving for Porto, Iker retired in 2020 due to heart problems, when it still seemed like he had a lot of football ahead of him.
Unfortunately, Kaká’s career was too marked by injuries, otherwise we could be talking about a player at Ibrahimovic’s level, at least in terms of longevity, since Kaká won a World Cup and a Champions League. The Brazilian made his debut in 2001 at Sao Paulo, and retired in 2017 at Orlando City in MLS.
The German winger, who Guardiola converted into a midfielder, retired at Bayern Munich, the team of his life, because he did not want to play elsewhere, despite the fact that he still had enough qualities to continue in some other less demanding team. He debuted in 2000 with the Bavarians, and retired in 2017.
Kun made his debut almost when he was a child in Independiente in 2003. From there Atlético de Madrid signed him and after a successful career at Manchester City, this season, unfortunately, he has had to give up football due to heart problems when he had signed by Barça and promised to give many new joys.
Another of Ibra’s contemporary footballers is Maxi Rodríguez, a player who made his debut at Newells in 1999. After a recognized career in Europe, he returned to Argentina where he retired at Newells last season after helping the club maintain the category.
The Croatian striker left football last season at the Milan team where Ibra played and against whom he could not compete for a place in the lead. Although Mandzukic is younger than the Swede, which is why he made his debut in 2004, Ibra showed that he is made of different stuff.
Although injuries seemed likely to hamper the Dutchman’s career, Robben was able to recover and have a successful career. The Dutchman began his career at Groningen in 2000 and retired last season at the same team, despite being younger than Ibra.
The German midfielder had a successful career, albeit much shorter than Ibra’s. He debuted in 2006, with Stuttgart, a team where he would get a Bundesliga. His successes would continue with Real Madrid, Juventus and the German national team, but last season he decided to end his career when he was a member of Hertha Berlin.
The Spanish midfielder hung up his boots in 2017 after a spectacular career that began at Real Sociedad in 2000. Xabi won everything with Madrid and the National Team, won a Champions League with Liverpool and several leagues with Bayern, even so He retired before Ibra despite being the same age.
Probably one of the best strikers of Ibrahimovic’s generation, along with the Swede himself. He began his career at Atlético de Madrid in 2000 when he was almost a child, and he retired in 2019 in Japan, at Sagan Tosu.
The boss made his debut in 2004 with River Plate. He had a successful career in Europe where he won it all with Barça, after being an idol at Liverpool. After a brief stint in China, he retired in 2020 from Estudiantes de la Plata, despite being three years younger than Ibra.
Despite being five years younger than Ibra, Kompany retired in 2020 at Anderlecht, to dedicate himself to being a coach. The Belgian center-back began his career when he was just 17 years old in 2003, and despite the fact that he could have continued playing, the successes and his desire to be a coach made him retire.
The guaje was his substitute at Barça. It is difficult to assess who was better in his best form, since both were very different, but lethal. However, Ibrahimovic could have lived much longer than Villa, as the Spaniard was hampered by a serious injury. Ibra and Villa were also rivals in the MLS, the Swede with the Los Angeles Galaxy and the guaje for New York City, but while Villa went one last year to play in Japan, where he retired in 2019, Ibra has returned to Europe in great shape.
The Italian played his entire career in Roma, except his last year, in which he decided to live the experience of playing in a great Argentine club like Boca Juniors. He retired in 2020, after having debuted in 2002, being younger than Ibra, specifically three years younger than him.
The Czech goalkeeper began his career in 2000, and ended it last year at Chelsea after having achieved great success with the blues. An accident against the goal post almost ended his career, but he continued to play at a high level for many years. However, he is a year younger than Ibra and has hung up his gloves sooner than the Swede.
He was Ibra’s teammate at Ajax for several seasons, where the Dutchman made his debut in 2002. However, after a very successful stint at Inter, he left for Turkey at a very young age and retired in 2017. Sneijder is not well known for taking care of himself. on a physical level, which meant that his career was not as long as that of his former Swedish teammate.
The German coincided with the Swede at Manchester United in 2016 and both headed to the MLS a year later, each one to a team. Schwensteiger made his debut in 2002 with Bayern Munich, and after a successful career, he decided to hang up his boots in 2019, despite being younger than Ibra.
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