Ibrahimovic: PSG are better than Milan

Posted Monday, July 30, 2012 by ESPN

Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes that his and Thiago Silva's departures have severely weakened his former side AC Milan.

Ibrahimovic, who was signed by PSG with Silva for a combined fee of £51.5m earlier in July, took only two minutes to grab his first goal for the club on his debut in a friendly match against DC United.

When asked by French media Les Parisiens after the match whether he feels that his current side are better than Milan, the Swede said without hesitation: "Yes."

"Because they lost two of their best players," he explained.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw, but it didn't dampen Ibrahimovic's spirits. The former AC Milan and Barcelona striker believes that the summer recruitment of Marco Verratti, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Silva has strengthened the French capital side and has put them in prime position of challenging for the Champions League.

"We're aiming for everything," he said. "We're in the Champions League, we have the two cups in France, so of course a club team has to win everything. We have a top team and we are only missing a winning team."

Ibrahimovic was also satisfied with his debut performance.

"On my goal, I moved to find the right space and I hit the left," he said,"I'm still in preparation, I'm not 100% but I work to find an optimal shape. Playing those games will help me get there."

Current PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti, who was previously a manager at AC Milan as well, was more diplomatic when asked the same question.

"I don't know," he replied. "It's not important to compare ourselves to another team. They [Milan] play a different style with a different philosophy and a different identity. The objective is to improve the quality of our team."

Ancelotti was pleased with the match despite being held to a 1-1 draw.

"We played well and deserved to win," he said. "The weather conditions made it something of a strange game. We were also up against a side who were in perfect physical condition. We did a lot of running and that's a very good thing in terms of our preparation for the new season.

"July has been a very good month for the team and I think the next 10 days will be too! We will be ready for the start of the championship. Zlatan made a fantastic start to the match with a very good goal too."