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Zlatan Ibrahimovic becomes the first player to score 50 Serie A goals for both Milan clubs (video)

With two goals in AC Milan’s 4-1 win over Sampdoria on Wednesday, the ageless Zlatan Ibrahimovic became first player to score least 50 times in Italy’s top league for both the Rossoneri and its city rival, Inter Milan.

The 38-year-old Swedish striker, who returned to AC Milan for the second time in his career in January after two years of tearing MLS defenses to sheds with the LA Galaxy, scored his 50th for the club off a first half header assisted by Ante Rebic.

The opener came less than four minutes into the contest. It was Ibrahimovic’s eighth goal of the 2019-20 Serie A season, which resumed last month following a three-month shutdown because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Ibrahimovic previously played for AC Milan from 2010-12, scoring 42 times in 61 league appearances.

Hakan Calhanoglu doubled the visitors’ advantage on an assist from Ibrahimovic before the 6-foot-5 forward added his ninth of the season and 51st of his AC Milan career just before the hour mark before being substituted from the match:

Sampdoria pulled one back through Kristoffer Askildsen in the 87th minute, but Rafael Leao completed the rout when he added Milan’s fourth tally in second-half stoppage time.

“They tell me I’m old and tired but I’m just getting warmer,” Ibrahimovic joked after Wednesday’s game, which pulled Milan within a point of fifth-place Roma. The club sat 11th when he arrived midseason. “I’m like Benjamin Button, I never get old. I’m always young.”

Ibrahimovic wore the blue-and-black vertical stripes of Inter Milan, which shares the iconic San Siro Stadium with the Rossoneri, from 2006-09, scoring 57 goals in 88 Serie A games for the Nerazzurri. After beginning his professional career in 1999 with Swedish side Malmo, he moved onto some of the biggest brand-name clubs in Europe, with successful stops Ajax, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.

He left the English Premier League for the Galaxy — for which he averaged almost a goal per game over his two seasons — in 2018. Ibrahimovic, who has not yet committed to staying in Milan beyond this season, has also netted 62 times in 116 caps at the international level, but hasn’t represented Sweden since the 2016 European Championship.

AC Milan closes out its 2019-20 slate on Saturday against Cagliari.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring a goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates the first of his two goals against Sampdoria in AC Milan's 4-0 win. It was his 50th career Serie A goal for the club. (Paolo Rattini/Getty Images)

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