AC Milan coach Pioli: Ibra key to transforming this team into title winners

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli says Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had a huge influence on the club since his arrival.

Pioli admits the Swede shook up his teammates in his first months with the club.

He said, "When Zlatan arrived, Milan was not a team that was thought to win the championship. He had the intelligence to understand the ways and times in which to intervene, with harshness when it was time to be tough but also with understanding when it was necessary to help his companions.

"Zlatan is only positive for us. He never has a full stomach, this has always been his mentality and strength. He always wants something more from himself and in doing so he always manages to demand something more from those close to him.

"Whatever he does, we hope that he will soon be able to return to play, he will always try to get the most out of it and also something more because this is his mentality.

"The samples are samples in the head, they have an obsession with getting the most out of anything. He wakes up in the morning to do everything he can to get the most out of his day at any time. When he is focused on a situation, he goes into it one hundred miles an hour and does not stop until he has achieved his goal."