Twitter abuzz with wishes as Ibrahimovic turns 36

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Bengaluru, October 3: Birthday wishes poured in for Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic who turned 36 today (October 3).

The Swedish striker has not turned up for the reds since suffering a career-threatening knee ligament injury in their Europa League quarterfinal second leg tie against Anderlecht at Old Trafford in April.

Ibrahimovic had finished as the club's top scorer last season with 28 goals in 46 appearances and Twitter was flooded with birthday wishes for the evergreen star.

Meanwhile Freddie Fu Ho-keung, who operated Ibrahimovic's knee in May does not want the star to rush his comeback.

In an interview to South China Morning Post, the exprienced doctor has warned Ibrahimovic against hurrying up his return.

"He (Zlatan) is very strong, but soccer is still a combative sport. As a doctor, of course I want to see him return as slow as possible, only when he is fully fit for the game. There have been many cases of a player returning prematurely with bad consequences," said Fu.

Though United manager Jose Mourinho plans to leave out the tall striker from the first team in the Premier League till January, he has included Ibrahimovic in the squad for the Champions League group stage which runs till December.

Fu said that is not a concern for him.

"I have no worry about his injury as it always takes time to fully recover," Fu added.

"In fact the Premier League has just started and I am sure Manchester United would not need the player urgently for any crucial game either in the league or European competitions."