AC Milan striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was emotional as he made his return to Sweden’s national team after four years for their World Cup qualifiers.
The 39-year-old also recounted how his son did not want him to leave home to join up with Janne Andersson’s squad.
Ibrahimovic, who quit international football after Euro 2016, teared up when he was asked what his boys, Maximilian, 14, and 12-year-old Vincent, thought of his decision to answer his country’s call again and return to the world stage.
“Vincent cried when I left him,” Ibra told a news conference before shedding a few tears himself.
Sweden’s all-time top scorer, with 62 goals in 116 games, admitted in in a newspaper interview in late 2020 that he wanted to end his international exile and Andersson quickly flew to Milan to sort out the terms for the former captain’s return.
“To play in the national team is the biggest thing you can do as a football player, and as I was following them [Sweden], inside me I was feeling I think I can help them, I think I can do something,” Ibra told reporters.