Somehow, A 40-Year-Old Zlatan Ibrahimovic With One Working Knee Is Still In Remarkable Shape

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has once again proven he is the ultimate athlete after sharing a picture of his physique online.

The 40-year-old is currently recovering from knee surgery and signed a one-year extension with AC Milan after winning Serie A last season.

He is not expected to return to action until 2023 after a planned procedure on his left knee to fix issues caused by previous anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Does that mean he is resting on his laurels? Come on, this is Zlatan we're talking about.

Different Breed pic.twitter.com/E3ldI5W0cE

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) July 24, 2022

The former Sweden international shared a topless image and captioned it: "Different Breed." Hard to argue.

Ibrahimovic scored eight goals in 27 games to help Milan to their first domestic title in 11 years.

He detailed the pain he played through and revealed he had no ACL in his left knee. Ibrahimovic suffered the injury while playing for Manchester United in April 2017, landing awkwardly in their Europa League quarter-final against Anderlecht.

That kind of injury would permanently finish the career of any other sportsperson in their mid 30s. However, Ibrahimovic returned to action in November 2017 and he moved on to MLS outfit LA Galaxy four months later.

Still thinking he had a point to prove in Europe, the striker joined AC Milan for a second spell in 2020, having previously represented the Rossoneri between 2010 and 2012.

"For the past six months I played without an ACL in my left knee," he posted to social media shortly after Milan's title triumph.

"Swollen knee for six months. I was only able to train with the team 10 times in the last six months. Took more than 20 injections in six months.

"Emptied the knee once a week for six months. Painkillers every day for six months. Barely slept for six months because of the pain.

"I've never suffered so much on and off the pitch. I made something impossible to something possible. In my mind I had only one objective, to make my teammates and coach champions of Italy because I made them a promise.

"Today I have a new ACL and another trophy."

Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud stepped up for Stefano Pioli's side and scored 23 goals between them, with Leao grabbing 12 and Giroud netting 11 in the last campaign.

Milan begin the defence of their title on August 13 when they welcome Udinese to the San Siro.