Zlatan Ibrahimovic is getting up there in years, but he's showing no signs of slowing down. Despite nearing his 40th birthday this fall, the veteran striker has turned back time in his second spell at AC Milan. With 16 goals (14 in Serie A), the 39-year-old is presently his team's top marksman and has been playing his part as the Rossoneri look to end their decade-long wait for their 19th Scudetto.
Although he's missed the team's past few games with an injury, that hasn't prevented his club from offering him a one-year contract extension to keep him at the Stadio San Siro for another 12 months.
And now, Ibrahimovic's received more positive news as his national team has decided to give him a chance to feature at his first international tournament since 2016.
Sweden's head coach, Janne Andersson, recently announced that he'd accepted Ibrahimovic's request to return to the Blågult after a four-year hiatus, noting that, "[Although] Zlatan has been injured, he can [certainly] recover and [that's why] I decided to call him".
Andersson also confirmed that indeed, Ibrahimovic would be part of his 23-man selection for this summer's upcoming EURO 2020 tournament.
Ibrahimovic's retirement meant that he missed an opportunity to participate in Sweden's last international tournament. At the 2018 World Cup, the Blågult impressed by finishing top of a quartet that also included then-reigning champions Germany. Unfortunately, despite beating Switzerland to advance to their first quarter-finals since 1994, they were beaten 2-0 by England who eventually finished in fourth spot.
His last tournament, the EURO 2016 competition, was nothing short of a disaster as Sweden finished bottom of their group following losses to Italy and Belgium and a draw with Ireland; in addition, the Blågult didn't score a single goal on their own (their only goal was an own goal by Irish player Ciaran Clark).
As such, Andersson and Ibrahimovic will naturally hope for better fortunes this time around, and should the Milan star, as expected, feature, he'll become the oldest ever player to turn out for Sweden in national history. With 62 goals, he's presently the nation's all-time top goal-scorer, although, with 116 caps he has a long way to go to even come anywhere near matching Anders Svensson's appearance record (148 caps). He could also become Sweden's oldest goal-scorer if he can find the back of the net, thus breaking a nearly 63-year-old record set by Gunnar Gren on October 26, 1958 when he scored twice in a draw with Denmark.
Fans could potentially see Ibrahimovic back in a Blågult kit later this month, as Sweden commence their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign against Eastern European minnows Georgia and Kosovo before taking on Estonia in a friendly clash on March 31st.
