DBasia.news – Zlatan Ibrahimovic was caught on camera hitting Cesar Azpilicueta when Spain met Sweden in the 2022 World Cup qualifying round last week. The AC Milan striker has now explained the reasons for this attitude.
Ibrahimovic appeared as a substitute in the match that took place at the Estadio de La Cartuja, 15 November. Unfortunately his presence was not able to prevent Sweden from a narrow 0-1 defeat.
Interesting incident occurred during injury time. In a corner kick situation, Ibra looks to hit Azpilicueta’s body with his shoulder.
It was done on purpose. Ibra was immediately rewarded with a yellow card and had to miss the inaugural match of the upcoming play-offs.
Ibra was also a strong reason for doing this commendable thing to Azpilicueta. He considered the Chelsea defender to provoke his teammates first.
Ibra assessed that Azpilicueta only dared to attack younger Swedish players. He also took action as a representative to retaliate for this treatment.
“One day in the national team, I will give a tackle to (Spain Azpilicueta). I did it on purpose,” Ibrahimovic told The Guardian.
“I’m not ashamed to say it because he did something stupid to my players. What I did was stupid but I will still do it to make him understand that he shouldn’t do that.”
“You don’t have the balls to do it to me. But I will show you what happens if you do it to me,” he added.
Ibrahimovic is now the most senior player in the Swedish national team. His experience is needed to take Blagult to the 2022 World Cup finals.
What Ibrahimovic has done to Azpilicueta is not to be imitated. But it at least made his teammates more courageous if they faced a similar situation.