Former Manchester United man and legendary forward Zlatan Ibrahimović has confirmed his retirement from football and after receiving an earful from the Hellas Verona fans at the weekend, he fired back in typically memorable fashion.
Hanging up his boots at the age of 41, the iconic Swedish striker and footballing veteran calls time on a remarkable 24-year career, with 34 trophies, 561 goals and 229 assists to his name for club and country. Yeah, not a bad little player.
Nevertheless, having played for three of Italy’s biggest clubs in Juventus, Inter and AC Milan, returning to last year’s Serie A champions for a second spell back in 2020, Zlatan scored plenty against most teams in the league — the once-again relegated Verona included.
On top of that, Ibra has always been a divisive and antagonistic figure, so regardless of how momentous and emotional an occasion it was, the Verona fans proceeded to boo as Zlatan announced his retirement and delivered his final speech as a pro footballer.
Zlatan to the Verona fans:
“Keep booing. This is the biggest moment in your year seeing me”.
Ibrahimović had the perfect response as Verona fans booed his final words as a professional footballer.
As you can see, the former United, Milan, Barca, PSG; Malmo, Ajax and LA Galaxy striker wasn’t rattled by the jeering whatsoever, firing back by saying: “Keep booing, this is the biggest moment of your year seeing me”.
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Always humble, isn’t he?
After all, this is the same bloke that referred to himself “a lion” for most of his career, left LA by saying “I came, I saw, I conquered“, snubbed Arsenal because he said he “doesn’t do auditions”; said he didn’t get his wife a birthday present “because she already has Zlatan” and announced his arrival in 0161 with a massive poster reading, “Manchester, welcome to Zlatan“.
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His ego might have been unparalleled but at least he had the stats and silverware to back it up. These two clips alone sum up the kind of legacy he’s left behind.
taking y’all to weeks back when milan won the serie a, and we all got that ibrahimovic speech. pic.twitter.com/y1cgzPVaJk
Breaking into tears as he bid farewell to the club where he spent a total of five years across two spells, Zlatan when on to add: “I say goodbye to football but not to you.
“There are too many emotions for me right now… The first time I came here you gave me happiness, the second time you gave me love.
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“You welcomed me with open arms, you made me feel at home, I will be a Milanista for the rest of my life… From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the fans… Forza Milan and goodbye.”
Zlatan was one of the last players still playing at the top level who became famous during my childhood. I’m 34 and I can firmly remember the hype over him around 2002 at Ajax when I was 13. The passage of time is a scary thing. https://t.co/FwdpMQEd6R
Two Manchester Basketball players have been named in the SLB Team of the Season for 2025/26
Danny Jones
A pair of Manchester Basketball players have been named in the latest SLB Team of the Season for 2025/26.
The most recent UK Super League Basketball (SLB) campaign is set to wrap up this month, with the playoffs taking place down in the capital, but there are other awards to be handed out before then.
It remains to be seen how ‘The Final Four’ phase will play out at The O2 in London on 17 May, but we can definitely take joy in moments like this.
Announced on Thursday, 7 May, Manchester Basketball confirmed that duo Max Jones and Jordan Johnson have joined the rest of the league’s roster of the best players this term.
As detailed on the club website, “Max has averaged 17.4 points in the SLB in 32 games – he’s been a starter for the franchise and was also named in the ENBL All-Star Five in Germany last month.
“Jordan averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 assists in 30 games in the SLB, had a stellar European campaign and hit 30 pts in just over 27 minutes in the SLB Cup Final.”
Commenting on social media, one fan wrote: “Both JJ and PJ have been so great at the PG spot all year. I feel this is a joint award for them both, but they can only fill one spot for the accolade. If we wanna be a serious club to build upon year on year, JJ also needs to be in an MCR jersey next year.
“We absolutely have the pieces to build around. JJ’s nerve is sooooo cool under pressure. You can just tell they wanna loft a meaningful trophy, and it’s gonna happen if we as a club plan and build the way we need to.”
Plenty of supporters have also stressed the importance of making sure that the board tie down the likes of Jones and other big talents this summer; the rest of the Molten All-League Team of the Season for 2025/26 can be found below.
It’s also worth noting that teammate Tim Adetukasi and women’s team star Irene Oboavwoduo have each been named in the SLB’s British Team of the Year in their respective divisions for 2026.
Writing in a club statement reflecting on a great week of recognition for the resurgent club, General Manager Dominique Allen said: “We are really proud to be a club flying the flag for British players.
Both Tim and Irene have made a real impact on and off the court. We’re really happy for both of them that they are getting some well-deserved recognition.”
Well done to all the MCR stars who are helping get the franchise back on its feet following such a major rebrand across the board.
Here’s looking forward to another promising and productive year for Manchester Basketball.
Manchester City win first Women’s Super League title in a decade
Danny Jones
After a decade of hope and hard work, Manchester City have finally won the Women’s Super League once again in a huge moment for the local club.
Lifting not just their first division title in 10 years, but only their second WSL trophy since the modern female football era began in 2010, it felt like only a matter of time to many supporters.
Ending a six-year Chelsea supremacy, this is also manager Andrée Jeglertz’s first at the helm of Man City’s women’s team, who arrived at the club with a strong silverware record at the start of this season.
These were the scenes at home base as one key result sealed their status as champions:
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) May 6, 2026
City Women secured the WSL title following third-placed Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brighton on Wednesday evening.
They even managed to do so with a game to spare and a six-point gap over the west London club, which has won so much over the past few years.
Speaking in an interview with club media after confirmation of the win, captain and Euro 2025-winning Lionesses defender, Alex Greenwood, said: “[It feels] absolutely incredible. “A moment – we as a team, me personally – us as a club has waited so long for”.
“An incredible moment, it’s an incredible feeling. I’m so glad we got to spend this moment together as a group. Just an absolutely incredible feeling.”
With fans watching both at home, along with the first team themselves, the celebrations have already begun as the team shared a look back at how they got here.
You can see the recap posted on social media in full below.
Commenting on his latest accolade, the Swedish head coach added in a full club statement: “There’s never been doubt about the talent in the group, but there is something else about talking about being winners and champions. We started that early, and we believed in that. That’s led us through this year.
“It hasn’t been easy; it’s been hard work every day, but we had a strong belief that we could be sitting here in May and be champions. That is the first thing, and we definitely deserve it.”
Congratulations to the Cityzens on a well-deserved and long-awaited WSL title; could this be the start of another sporting dynasty of dominance over in East Manchester? Only time will tell…
In other news around the Etihad Campus, the women’s, EDS and academy team stadium is also set to host the final of the FA Youth Cup later this month.
Danny Jones -
5th June 2023 
