Zlatan Ibrahimovic joked to CBS Sports hosts, which included Champions League presenters Thierry Henry, Kate Abdo and Micah Richards, on Saturday when he appeared on the broadcaster’s Serie A program.
The legendary Swedish striker was a guest on the show ahead of AC Milan’s shock 2-1 Serie A defeat to Parma.
The 42-year-old player joined Italian football legend Fabio Cannavaro, former Leeds star Mike Grella and presenters Poppy Miller and Mike Messina.
But in typical Ibrahimovic style, the former Milan star joked to the presenters that they would need to have “the best team” in terms of commentary if they were to ask him to join the show.
“Thanks for inviting me,” he told CBS Sports. “But I was like, where’s the actual studio with [Thierry] Hendrik, Kate [Abdo] and Micah [Richards]?
“Let’s go home! If you’re going to take me, you’re going to have to take me to the A-guys!” he joked.
His comments were well received by the other presenters, who laughed off the joke. The former Milan striker then added: ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m going to raise the level!’
Richards, Abdo, Henry and Jamie Carragher all appear on CBS’ Champions League broadcast. Thanks to their brilliant analysis and humor on the show, the foursome have become some of the competition’s best presenters.
Cannavaro then asked Zlatan how he found it adjusting to life in Serie A when he moved from Ajax to Juventus in 2004.
And the Swede, who scored 26 goals in 92 games for Juve before moving to Internazionale in 2006, did not hold back again.
“It was different,” he began. “Because when I first walked into the locker room, I saw these guys next to me, and many others. It was like playing PlayStation.”
The Sweden international would join a number of illustrious names at Juventus, including Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved.
“The day before I was playing with these guys on the PlayStation and the day after I was playing football with them,” he added.
“But after three months they were already playing with my PlayStation,” he joked again, causing a round of laughter among the experts.
Cannavaro then spoke about training with Ibrahimovic, with the former Juventus defender joking that he always let his former team-mate score against him in training.
“He always scored against me, in training. Of course I had to give him confidence!” joked Cannavaro.
AC Milan, meanwhile, have had a difficult start to the new Serie A season, drawing 1-1 in their opening match against Torino last week.
On Saturday they returned to Parma, where they suffered a defeat, Dennis Man opening the scoring for the home side after just two minutes.
Christian Pulisic scored another goal for Paulo Fonseca’s side, but substitute Matteo Cancellieri secured the victory for Parma in the 77th minute of the match, tapping in a cross from Pontus Almqvist.