Shamrock Rovers of the Irish Premier Division knew it was in for a rough Europa League qualifier after drawing AC Milan. What nobody expected was the heart-touching moment after the match from Zlatan Ibrahimović.
There wasn’t any shocking upset to be had with AC Milan dominating in nearly every statistic and a rather routine 2-0 victory. To the surprise of nobody, Ibrahimović found his way on the scoresheet, netting the Rossoneri’s first goal of the season.
The big Swede finding the back of the net isn’t what made the headlines. It was what he did after the final whistle that got people’s attention.
Rovers striker Aaron Greene was the lucky man to receive Ibrahimović’s jersey after the 90 minutes. Greene then passed the icon’s shirt to his son, who was working as a ball boy that night. It was later realized this exchange was masterminded by Zlatan himself.
Zlatan learned that Aaron Greene's son, a Rovers Academy player, was a ballboy at the game. He promised him his jersey, he made sure that he got it pic.twitter.com/b3kyCgs0l6
— Shamrock Rovers FC (@ShamrockRovers) September 18, 2020
Top-class Zlatan in his finest form.
According to an article from The Sun, the idea to give the jersey to Greene’s son came from Ibrahimović himself. The reported encounter he had with Greene was the most Zlatan conversation ever.
Greene said while coming back from a free kick, he was looking at his son working as a ball boy. Ibrahimović noticed Greene’s stare and asked what the Rovers striker was looking at in which he replied his son. Then in true Zlatan fashion, the 38-year-old offered his jersey.
“Zlatan give you jersey, make your son very happy,” the AC Milan striker said, according to reports.
Never change Zlatan. Never change.