Zlatan Ibrahimovic has admitted that the current Manchester United team is better than the one he played for but urged them to start winning trophies.
Ibra was in the AC Milan side that lost to United on Thursday night in the Europa League, coming on in the second half having missed the first leg through injury.
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The former United striker saw his old teammate Paul Pogba score the goal that decided the tie, just two minutes after the Frenchman came off the bench.
After the match the 39-year-old was asked how this United side compared to the one that he played for, under Jose Mourinho, from 2016-2018.
The Milan striker claimed they were now a better side, but warned it was irrelevant unless they turned their ability into trophies.
"This Man Utd team looks better than the one I played in but it doesn't matter if you don't win anything. I think it's better than mine but I won trophies, that's the big difference."
During his time at Old Trafford, Zlatan won both the Europa League and League Cup, in the same season, also winning the Community Shield, scoring twice in the League Cup final against Southampton.
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Those trophies remain the last ones that United have won, having dominated British football before Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has seen his side lose four semi finals in the past 14 months but he has two chances to put it right this season.
The Premier League side drew Granada in the Europa League quarter final on Friday and face Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter final on Sunday.
Solskjaer does have the chance to be the first United boss to finish in the top four in back-to-back seasons and earlier this week was sure in his belief the team had improved under him. "We're 12 points ahead of what we were at the same time in the league last season," the former United striker said.
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"Of course, we're all aiming to win trophies at this club. But, as we've said, sometimes a trophy can hide the other fact of what's happening at the club. It's in the league position you see if you're progressing, really.
"And sometimes in the cup tournaments you might be lucky, you might be unlucky, draws, different games decided by different factors. But we're aiming to win, that's why you play football, you always aim to win trophies.
"I've been here for two-and-a-half of those [trophy drought] years now and coming in, as I said so many times, I felt a big rebuild had to be made and it's in the league position if you see any progress, for me."
Solskjaer might have a point with how FA Cup wins didn't ultimately save Arsene Wenger atArsenal, but he'd still love to finish this season with his first silverware.
Featured Image Credit: BT Sport/PATopics:Β Jose Mourinho, Football, Europa League, Manchester United, Serie A, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Premier League, AC Milan, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
