Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Did He Tear His Achilles?

26 May

There have been a ton of rumors circulating in around social media about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s recent calf injury. Some sources are saying the Swede tore his Achilles, and others are saying its just a muscle injury. In this post I’ll break down exactly what happened to Zlatan, and how long he may be out for.

When rumors started circulating that Zlatan Ibrahimovic tore his Achilles, it made a lot of sense. He’s a 38 year old explosive athlete, who coming off a long period of inactivity- all of which put him at risk for an Achilles rupture.

However, AC Milan recently released a statement, that made it very clear that Zlatan’s Achilles is completely intact, and he instead suffered an injury to his soleus muscle.

Now, the soleus muscle and the Achilles tendon are two separate structures, but they are very closely related. In fact, they’re physically connected to each other. For your calf muscle to work, your soleus contracts (meaning it shortens), which pulls on the Achilles tendon, which allows your ankle to move. If either one of these structures is injured, ankle movement may be effected. This is probably why there was a mix up as to whether or not he tore his Achilles.

As far as when Zlatan will return, there’s currently no timetable as he’s still being assessed. He is scheduled to get an MRI next week which will show the exact severity of the injury.

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