CNN
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Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic has announced his retirement from his brilliant football career at the age of 41, leaving Serie A as the oldest scorer in the history of the league.

The star striker’s announcement came after his team, AC Milan, won the season 3-1 over Hellas Verona on Sunday.

“It’s time to say goodbye to football, but not to you,” an emotional Ibrahimovic told Rossoneri fans at the San Siro stadium.

The club had announced earlier that it would hold a short farewell ceremony for the mysterious star, as his contract would not be renewed at the end of this month.

Ibrahimovic said, “The first time you arrived, you gave me happiness, and the second time, you gave me love.” “She welcomed me with open arms, made me feel at home and I will be a Milanist for the rest of my life.”

Ibrahimović played for nine clubs during his 24-year career, scoring 561 goals for club and country, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.

He retired as Sweden’s top scorer with 62 goals in 121 international matches. He retired from international football after Euro 2016 however He returned for Sweden’s unsuccessful 2021 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Ibrahimovic told a news conference on Sunday that he would rest a bit before deciding what to do next.

“For now, I just want to take some time off and enjoy what I’ve done,” he said. “It’s not right to make decisions in a hurry, there are too many feelings at the moment. I want to take a summer vacation, meditate and then we’ll see.”

The Swede made his professional debut in his home country with Malmö FF in 1999 before moving to the Netherlands to play for Ajax two years later. Ibrahimović won the Eredivisie twice and the KNVB Cup in 2002.

After his stint at the Dutch club, Ibrahimović went on to play for some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, ​​AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.

In his first spell in Italy, the Swede won two Serie A titles with Juventus, later due to a match-fixing scandal. A move to Inter Milan in 2016 saw Ibrahimović win three league titles.

Ibrahimovic left Italy to join Spanish giants Barcelona in 2009, where he won the La Liga title in his only season with the Catalan club. His time in Spain was short-lived as he was loaned out to AC Milan in 2010, in a move that became permanent in 2011.

In 2012, Ibrahimović joined Paris Saint-Germain where he scored 113 goals while winning 12 titles – including the domestic quadruple on two occasions. Despite not winning the elusive Champions League title, the striker helped Premier League side Manchester United win the Europa League in 2017.

After joining MLS side LA Galaxy in 2018, where Scored two amazing goals on his debutthe charismatic striker He returned for a second stint with Milan in early 2020which helped the Italian team win the Scudetto last season.

Despite only playing in four matches this past season due to injuries, Ibrahimovic He became the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Italian League He aged 41 years and 166 days in Milan’s 3-1 defeat by Udinese in March.