Zlatan Ibrahimovic Says He Is Like Red Wine After West Brom-Manchester United

Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic compared himself to red wine—suggesting he is getting better with age—after his two goals saw off the challenge of West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

The 35-year-old struck a goal in each half as United won 2-0 at the Hawthorns, taking his tally to 11 for the Premier League season.

Ibrahimovic told the media: "The older I get, the better I get, like red wine. You like red wine? I'm a perfect example of that."

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The Swede has played every minute of the 16 league matches this season for which he has been available, amounting to 1,440 minutes of action, per WhoScored.com. And he is showing no sign of slowing down.

He added: I'm settling in. I feel happy. I feel good. Even if I'm 35, in my mind I'm 20. I think I could play also at 50, but it's not down to me. I've played in different championships, in different countries, and you need to adapt your body to the game and the way it's played here.

Ibrahimovic's fine performances in his first season in England have seen him become United's talisman in attack, taking over from Wayne Rooney since his arrival on a free transfer last summer.

Team-mate Andreas Pereira, who is on loan at Granada, gave an insight into how the veteran frontman kept his condition. Per Globo Esporte (h/t Toby Gannon of The Sun), Pereira said in September:

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When he arrived, everyone could see that he was a real professional. Just by his physical appearance, you can tell he is professional as hell. He just wants to win—he only thinks about football. He brought his own physiotherapist with him to treat him at the club. Everyone was left open-mouthed by that.

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Indeed, his displays have been so impressive that a personal trainer devised a training plan for those who wish to follow in Ibrahimovic's footsteps, per Ben Welch of FourFourTwo.

Ibrahimovic has certainly hit the ground running in the Premier League.

He has demonstrated he is robust enough to deal with the competitive nature of each encounter, and his movement off the ball has added a cutting edge to United's attacking play that arguably wasn't there under the reign of former manager Louis van Gaal.

Zlatan showed off some of his preparation via Twitter:

His return of 10 goals from his previous nine matches shows Ibrahimovic to be a player still near the peak of his powers, and if anything, the challenge of playing in England looks to have freshened up this proven, world-class striker.

While for spectators it is likely to be a shame that Ibrahimovic only came to the Premier League at the tail end of his career, Jose Mourinho will be glad he has, as his presence has become vital to the United manager's plans to return the club to their trophy-winning ways.