Ibrahimovic's message to Cristiano: The real Ronaldo is Brazilian Serie A Analysed the Portuguese's move to Juventus

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's return to Italian football seems to be nearing ever closer, which has unsurprisingly led to many interesting comments in the media from the Swedish striker.

The 38-year-old, who will become a free agent on December 31 after announcing his decision to depart LA Galaxy, has made several hints about joining a team in Serie A, where he would come up against Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

For Ibrahimovic, though, he has stated that he has already come up against the 'real' Ronaldo: Ronaldo Nazario.

"No, not at all," Ibrahimovic told GQ Italia when asked if he would find the real Ronaldo in Italy.

"The real Ronaldo is Brazilian.

"His [Cristiano's] is not a natural talent but the fruit of a lot of work."

When analysing Cristano's move to the Bianconeri, the Swede did not see his switch from Real Madrid to Juventus as being a challenge.

"He signed for a team that has won Serie A seven times in a row," Ibrahimovic noted.

"Going to a club like this is not a challenge.

"If he wanted a challenge, he would have gone to Juventus when they were in Serie B to promote them to Serie A and take them back to the top."

The relationship between Ibrahimovic and Cristiano has always been a little tense, with the striker criticising the Portuguese in 2018 after the Ballon d'Or was awarded to Luka Modric.

"Now we know that these trophies were not won by Cristiano Ronaldo, but [instead] by Florentino Perez," he said.