Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss AC Milan’s Champions League trip to Liverpool on Wednesday night.
The Swede only made his return from a knee injury suffered in May against Lazio on Sunday, scoring after coming on as a second half substitute.
But AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has confirmed the 39-year-old will miss the trip to Anfield with an Achilles injury.
“ Ibrahimovic would have played from the start but has pain in his tendon so it’s better to not risk him,” he said. “Giroud can play a good part of the game. I will choose one between him and Rebic from the start.”
Despite Ibrahimovic being ruled out of the game, Jurgen Klopp was inevitably asked about the striker at his own pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool 's clash with Milan.
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And the German paid tribute to the striker as he shared his admiration for how the Sweden international is still playing at such a high level in his late-30s, especially in spite of recent injury setbacks.
“Zlatan. What a player, what a player,” Klopp told reporters. “I think I saw a few videos of him when he got injured a few months ago, and then I saw him, I’m not sure if he got surgery or not, but early enough on spinning bike and fighting back.
““Lions don’t rest long,” and whatever. He is always right. He came on in the last game after quite a long time and scored immediately. He is a man for exceptional moments in a game.
“If he is not playing, Giroud or Rebic is playing. They’re all slightly different profiles but all really good. It’ll be interesting but for sure, Zlatan is one of the best players ever in this game.
“He knows that and he says that and I like that about him. That’s the confidence he brings in all the games.
“The fact he is still physically that fit, it’s absolutely incredible and just shows maybe some careers have ended too early because there was still a little bit of fuel in the tank and he squeezes every drop out of his body and wants to stay in the game as long as possible.
“Rightly so. He is absolutely capable of playing in each league in the world still and that is absolutely exceptional.”
