KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to national team football has proved short-lived. Injury has forced the veteran Milan centre-forward to give up on any chance of playing for Sweden in the Euro 2020 finals.
National coach Janne Andersson has accepted that the 39-year-old will not be able to recover in time from a knee injury he suffered against Juventus in Turin.
Ibrahimovic, who scored a record 62 goals in 116 internationals before quitting after the team’s Euro 2016 group-stage exit, ended his five-year absence from national team football during the last international break. He provided an assist in a 1-0 Swedish victory over Georgia and another in a 3-0 win over Kosovo.
Last month Ibrahimovic became the subject of a UEFA investigation for “having an alleged financial interest in a betting company”.
Reports in Sweden had suggested he could face a a three-year ban – which would effectively end his career – for his partnership with a Malta-based betting company.
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