05 October 2023 , 09:21
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic admits he took a "you f*** with me, I f*** with you" approach to his civil war with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona.
The two personalities clashed in their year together at the Nou Camp, which led to the Swede having a short-lived spell in Catalunya. Ibrahimovic was signed from Inter Milan in a huge deal but never managed to settle in Guardiola's intricate and demanding system.
Ibrahimovic made it known that he needed more space if he was to produce his best football, which he felt Guardiola took offence to and so began their issues with each other as he was benched early on, which led to the Swede deliberately creating situations that would cause more tension.
He told Piers Morgan on Talk TV : “I noticed it was not about me performing any more. In my opinion he felt offended for me saying to him, I needed more space in the way I wanted to play."
Pressed on whether he though he was being punished he replied: “Which was okay, he is the coach. Bad results, he leaves, player stays, and I respect that, but be open to me, be direct to me so we understand each other. Fourth game, bench, then I started to make noise because it was not okay for me any more.
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"Now I am on the bench because of a situation I created not by my own choice, because of the people above him, because for them I was a big investment. The fourth game I bring my f***ing Ferrari, I bring Enzo Ferrari, and I knew it will create another situation. So I parked the car in front of his office. So you f*** with me, I f*** with you, that was my motto.
The pair clashed during their time together"In front of his office. I said, ‘You want to play with fire? I will bring you fire, but I will burn you’. Obviously he is the coach, because what punished most the players, player if he doesn't play, because obviously you want to play, but the boss is the coach. But in that moment I understood this will not be okay.”
The Swede has previously called Guardiola a "spineless coward" and added that the then Barcelona boss didn't seek him out for confrontation as he claimed the Catalan "would not say nothing to me, because he would avoid me.”
Guardiola and Ibrahimovic has been involved in a verbal bars since they went their separate ways in 2010. The Swede had claimed the Manchester City boss' ego could prevent Erling Haaland from reaching his potential.