Zlatan Ibrahimovic has defended AC Milan’s January transfer window after facing criticism following their Champions League exit at the hands Feyenoord.
Milan went into their knockout round play-off second leg trailing 1-0 from the first leg and looked set to overturn the deficit when Santiago Gimenez inside a minute at the San Siro.
But the game turned when Theo Hernandez was shown a second yellow card before Julian Carranza’s header sealed a the victory for the Dutch side in what was an underwhelming display from the Serie A giants.
Milan signed five players during the January window including goalscorer Gimenez from Feyenoord, as well as the loan signings of Joao Felix and Kyle Walker from Chelsea and Manchester City.
“The Champions League was a goal for us so it’s a disappointment,” Ibrahimovic, who took on a role as advisor after retiring in 2023, said.
“We weren’t happy and in January we made these moves to improve, but there is no guarantee.”
FT. pic.twitter.com/v9vbUBY7E3
— AC Milan (@acmilan) February 18, 2025
Milan sold a number of members from the 2022 Scudetto-winning season this term including Olivier Giroud and Davide Calabria but Ibrahimovic is stronger than that team from three years ago.
“I played in that team and I can say that this team today has a better chance of winning,” Ibrahimovic said. “It’s twice as strong. We won with that team, but this one is better in terms of quality.”
Ibrahimovic said the second yellow card shown to Hernandez was harsh but insisted he was not making excuses for their disappointing defeat.
“On Theo’s second yellow card the referee was harsh: for simulation in a match like this, give at least a warning,” he said.
“But we are not angry with the referee, we are angry with ourselves. We lost and the opponent was stronger. We killed ourselves. It’s our fault, there are no excuses or complaints.
“We need to look in the mirror and see what we did wrong. I think there was a lack of maturity, you win 1-0 and you keep playing. I want to see a dominant Milan.”
