Ibra's tentacles on AC Milan

Despite numerous writings dating mainly from the 17th and 19th centuries reporting sightings and destroyed ships, no one is really convinced that the Kraken exists. It is considered to be a legendary creature, a figment of the imagination of captains and deckhands in the grip of hallucinations. Legends speak of tentacles up to thirty metres long, capable of breaking decks and sucking even the strongest of ships into the abyss, taking everything material into the sea, but also the fears of sailors who crossed the oceans, shaping their courage and respect for that blue void below the horizon line. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not a hallucination and his legend is one that can easily be explained by reality, watching the videos of his many goals and the tears shed in the San Siro center when he announced his retirement from football after the AC Milan v Hellas game. Ibra's last three years at AC Milan are those of a kraken that has managed to stretch its tentacles over everything around him, without destroying ships but adjusting the course of a historic and elegant vessel that had been lost in the waves for a few years.

In the latest chapter of his football career, Ibra has become a new, improved version of himself. Ever since his arrival in January 2020, Ibra has taken centre stage in press conferences, with statements aimed from the outset at returning Milan to the top not only in terms of results but also in collective consideration. Ibra's second tentacle is the one that has, in the space of a year and a half, brought back a proud idea of Milanism, slumbering after years of mediocrity. The table thrown in the air shouting 'Milan is not Milan, Italy is Milan' after winning the Scudetto last season are images of pure Milanism, as is head-to-head with Lukaku in a derby two seasons ago, which became an icon of an electric rivalry rediscovered after derbies that had the flavor of luxury friendlies. Zlatan also took over the market choices of the club, which in recent years has practically given up buying forwards being able to rely on Zlatan first considered a starter and then a reserve for Giroud - only to choose Origi last summer as the announced reserve only when Ibra suffered the knee injury that probably determined his farewell to football. 

Above all, Ibrahimovic has taken all the responsibility for growing, together with Pioli, the technical side of the team, first made up of talented youngsters but without the right attitude, and then in two years transformed into the Italian champion and Champions League semi-finalist team. As admitted over the years by those who were on board, Ibra raised the level of many players, changing their approach to work and mentality, making them responsible for the result to be achieved and a faded Rossoneri identity. Despite changing several teams over the course of his career, Ibra seemed the most Milanista of Milanisti, even when with microphone in hand and tears cutting vertically down his cheeks he thanked his Milanista 'family' and his '25 children', in front of him wearing the number 11 jersey, moved after winning qualification for the next Champions League.

Of the kraken Ibra also always had the physicality, long legs, arms and feet, which he stretched with sudden, inhuman athletic gestures that often made the difference on the pitch. With the ground beginning to be seen on the horizon, with the last tentacle Zlatan also took the thrill, in spite of the hard, unscratchable image that has accompanied him over the years. With a sudden blow he took the tears of the Milanese people, of the players who grew up thanks to him and of the children who never really saw him play, overwhelmed by the scream of a stadium that knows how to recognise icons. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, at the most beautiful moment, gave Milan an emotional moment, after giving strength, pride and the idea that there was always something to fight for. Who knows if it is a legend that the kraken destroyed all those ships, who knows if instead the kraken all those ships always helped them to the coast, asking the sailors to tell frightening stories ashore, to keep the myth high, to keep the courage high, until the next extraordinary tale.