He was ruled out for up to nine months with significant knee ligament damage after a nasty fall against Anderlecht last year, but the ever-optimistic Zlatan Ibrahimovic was convinced he would come back stronger than ever. He was right.

The Swede would post inspirational messages on his Instagram while recovering, but many still doubted whether he’d return to play football after such a horrific injury. He wasn’t getting any younger but that doesn’t really apply to this warrior of a man. 

“I will go through this like everything else and come back even stronger.” he said 15 months ago.

“So far I played with one leg so it shouldn’t be any problem. One thing is for sure, I decide when it’s time to stop and nothing else. Giving up is not an option. See you soon.”

Image: ZlatanIbrahimovic/InstagramAt the time, It was unclear as to whether Ibrahimovic would remain a Manchester United player in the coming seasons and eventually, he decided to join LA Galaxy in a huge move for Major League Soccer. It was a decision that he and his club would not regret.

In 17 games, the 36-year-old has scored 15 goals in that time period, including a hat-trick against Orlando City earlier this week.

Days later, the former Barcelona and Manchester United striker took to social media to show the extent of his knee injury that threatened his career and while many said it was over, he said “NO.”

“His knee is so strong that the doctors said they had never seen anything like it,” Zlatan’s agent, Mino Raiola, told Swedish newspaper Expressen.

“He has a knee that it is almost impossible for a football player with a 20-year career to have. It was quite clean, there was no harm in it.

“Zlatan is so strong that the doctor wants him back after his career to research on him. They work on the world’s best research institutions for the knees and ligaments. They research a lot on the subject and that is why they are better than everyone else, and doctors want back Zlatan to do research on him.

“So after Zlatan’s career, we will go back and open him up again to do research on his ligaments.”