'You can tame a lion, but you cannot tame Zlatan Ibrahimovic'

The big Swede insists he cannot be tamed and opened up on the secret behind his continued brilliance despite approaching his forties.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic insists he cannot be tamed, with the AC Milan star also holding himself in a higher regard than Benjamin Button in terms of ageing.

The 39-year-old is level with Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo on a league-best of 10 goals in the Serie A this season, despite playing fewer games than the Inter Milan and Juventus stars respectively.

Zlatan’s impressive form has helped Milan climb to the top of the league table on 28 points after 12 games, sparking hope of a first title since his first spell in 2010/11.

And when asked on who would be less likely to be tamed between himself and a lion, the striker bullishly told UEFA.com: “Zlatan, 100 percent.

“You can tame a lion, but you cannot tame Zlatan. It’s a different animal.”

The former Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United star has frequently compared himself to a character called Benjamin Button, who was born old and died young, from a move in 2008.

“I’m doing it better, because I’m living proof of it. Benjamin Button is just a made-up story,” Zlatan said in response to who is doing better.

“I’m the perfect profile for that movie. I’m doing the real movie, and Benjamin Button was a movie for the cinema.”

Benjamin Button pic.twitter.com/RtYq2TH0Wr

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) September 21, 2020

He added: “I’m 39 and with what I have done, I have no obligation to work anymore, but I still have this passion for what I’m doing.

“I’m never satisfied, and I always want more.

“I don’t see a lot of players who are my age who were, or are, performing like I am doing. The moment a player goes above 30 is [meant to be] when they start to go down and they quit. Above 30 is when I started to become even better.

“I hear athletes from [the] US say that they spent more than one million [dollars] to keep their body in shape. I am 39. I am in shape. I perform at the highest level. I spend zero to stay in shape.

“The secret is not how much you spend, the secret is in your head – how much you want it, how much you’re willing to sacrifice. That is the secret. It’s the mentality and mentality doesn’t cost anything.”