Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss AC Milan’s return to Champions League football with an Achilles tendon injury which will keep him out of the game against Liverpool.

AC Milan last played in Europe’s top club competition in 2014, and was hoping that veteran forward Zlatan would make the clash at Anfield after scoring on his return from a four-month layoff against Lazio.

Stefano Pioli said in a pre-match press conference, “He left the field with an inflammation of the tendon. We hoped he would be able to recover but it’s not the case,”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored seven minutes after coming off the bench at the San Siro, raising Stefano’s hopes his talismanic attacker would start in England after shaking off a knee injury he picked up in May.

Stefano is likely to pick Ante Rebic, who laid on Zlatan’s goal, as another experienced forward Olivier Giroud has only just returned to training after contracting Covid-19 earlier this month.

Stefano said, “Two days of training are not enough to play 90 minutes, but he (Giroud) could play a part of the game,”

“Ibra was going to start, now the question is who will play between Rebic and Giroud.”

AC Milan is in good form heading to Anfield, with 3 wins from their opening 3 Serie A fixtures putting them level with Napoli and league leaders Roma.

AC Milan has not got past the quarter-finals in the competition since last winning it in 2007, when they beat Liverpool.

The Reds also inflicted one of the most traumatic defeats in AC Milan’s history, coming back from three goals down at half-time of the 2005 final against a star-studded Rossoneri line-up before eventually winning on penalties.