Zlatan Ibrahimovic is synonymous with goals, and that is not a recent fact. In Milan’s defeat this weekend (3-1, in Udine), the veteran striker made his first start of the season and responded with a goal, reaching the milestone of 25 consecutive years of scoring.

It all started in 1999 in Malmö. In the sixth professional game of his career, the last in that inaugural season in professional football, Zlatan came off the bench to score the equalizing goal against Vastra Frolunda – a game his side would eventually win. 2-1.

Since then, the goals have become more frequent. The list of clubs also stretched, in passages through the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, England and the USA, but there was not a single calendar year in which the Swede did not write his name in the list of top scorers. 2012 (Milan and Paris Saint-Germain) and 2016 (Paris Saint-Germain) were the most prolific, with 50 goals each.

Oldest goalscorer in Italy

The penalty he converted in Udine reached another special mark. Aged 41 years and 166 days at the time, Zlatan Ibrahimović became the oldest goalscorer in the history of a competition famous for the longevity of its biggest star – Serie A.

Until this Saturday, the record belonged to Alessandro Costacurtathe legendary Milan defender who scored the third and final goal of his football career in 2006/07, in his last match as a professional.

The similarities between the two “oldest” goals in Serie A are striking. Costacurta, like Ibrahimović, scored a penalty kick in favor of the squad Roseonera in defeat against Udinese (2-3).

Ibrahimovic made history in Serie A: These are the 10 biggest players to ever score in the competition, with 🇵🇹 on the list pic.twitter.com/km1c3O7pby

– Playmaker (playmaker_PT) March 20, 2023