Ibrahimovic and son, 16, team up to play for AC Milan’s U18s
Gabriele Marcotti and Stevie Nicol discuss AC Milan’s 1-0 first leg win over Tottenham in the Champions League. (1:08)
It looks like Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been training up his own in-house strike partner after being spotted playing alongside his son, Maximilian, at AC Milan‘s training complex this week.
The pair trained together at the reigning Serie A champions’ Milanello Sports Centre as the 41-year-old Swedish striker took part in a game with the Rossoneri‘s under-18 side as he continues to recuperate from a knee injury that has kept him out of action since May.
After missing out on a place in Milan’s matchday squad for Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, Zlatan found himself joining his own flesh and blood as a guest star for the Milan U18 side as they took on a team made up of fringe senior players.
Maximillian, born in 2006, has followed his father around Europe and was previously enrolled at the academies of both Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. The striker’s younger son, Vincent, is also part of the Italian club’s youth set-up but did not feature in the training game.
Lining up together and sharing a quick chat before kick-off, the Ibrahimovics formed a formidable strike partnership as Zlatan did his best to keep up with his teenage foil.
A forward in his own right, Maximilian looks to have inherited his dad’s attacking instincts and physical presence, using his body to keep defenders at bay in a manner that will be familiar to fans.
Indeed, young Max also appears to prefer cutting in from the left wing, and even his stepover technique is a carbon copy of Zlatan’s own fleet-footed trickery.
Unfortunately, the father-and-son pairing were unable to avoid defeat as the U18s ended up on the wrong end of a 3-0 score, with Milan stars Charles De Ketelaere (two) and Ante Rebic scoring the decisive goals.
While Maximillian’s first-team debut is likely to still be some way off, the thought of not one but two Ibrahimovics combining to terrorise the backlines of Serie A is certainly an enticing one.
Of course, they are not the only family members who share Milanello as their workplace: Milan legend Paolo Maldini is now the club’s technical director, meaning he is ultimately in charge of the development of his 21-year-old son, Daniel, who is on a season-long loan at Spezia.