On Sunday, more than 50,000 spectators will attend Minnesota United’s final match at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis (the club will move into Allianz Field in Saint Paul next year), and they’ll be treated to a visit from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s LA Galaxy.
With the Galaxy trailing Real Salt Lake by one point for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, Ibrahimovic will play on turf this weekend despite the risk it poses to his knee — the one he totaled while playing with Manchester United in 2017.
Back in August, Ibrahimovic outlined his viewpoint on turf while speaking with ESPN FC:
“When I got injured, the judgement was I could not play football. First of all, when you have an injury like that, in football they haven’t seen it … I came to Pittsburgh, they operated on my knee … I had my physio who followed me everywhere, and we worked every day for seven, eight months…
“And I continued and I got this opportunity with the Galaxy, and I play — and why I don’t play on turf? Because I’m able to play now, I push it every time I put the shoes on, when I walk on that grass, when I can feel the smell of that grass, when I can touch the ball, when I feel like I can shoot the ball like I want to do it, I’m just happy. And I want to still be happy.
“But by playing on turf, I risk to get damage. I don’t say I will get injured — I don’t know; I could get injured also in normal games — but the consequence is everywhere, the risk is everywhere. The risk is higher on the turf. And I tried to play on the turf in Portland, and I felt very bad.
“With all respect for turf, for Portland and the stadium, which was a fantastic atmosphere, if I could play I would play every single second. But it’s not about that I don’t want to play, it’s about me — I don’t want to take the risk to get damaged if it’s not life or death.
“But if it’s the playoff and we go there, I will go there and I will destroy them. If I get injured, fuck it, I get injured. I will take the risk because we are in a different situation.”
And so while it’s not Portland and it’s not the playoffs, Zlatan has now confirmed to Sky Sports that the match against the Loons constitutes life or death, and he's also distancing himself from rumors of a possible loan return to Milan in January.
“I think I’m in the situation where I need to have a good balance between work and rest because I came back from injury, because of my age, and the load I’m putting in at training. So that’s nothing I’ve been thinking about because we still have two games, hopefully we make it to the playoffs. More than that I don’t know what to say because I am not focused on that. I haven’t thought about it.
“I owe them to come, because apparently they are not coming for Minnesota, they are coming for me.”
Zlatan also told Sky that he sees himself on another level to LeBron James, saying, “There are many kings, but there is only one God. The LA people are thankful, they are grateful, appreciate everything I do, and they are happy when they see me. They make me happy and they are saying I am the best thing that happened to LA since Kobe Bryant retired. It makes me proud, it makes me happy.”
The 37-year-old has scored 21 goals (second most in MLS) in 25 games to go along with five assists.
Sunday's match begins at 5:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN. The Galaxy will finish the 2018 regular season with a home match against the Houston Dynamo on Oct. 28.
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