10 Zlatan Ibrahimovic controversies that shocked the world

Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was prolific in front of goal for PSG

8) Calls France a “s**t country” and condemns the referees

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Referees
Ibrahimovic could not control his anger as he went onto rant about the country and the referees

Zlatan found himself in hot water after he sparked a political row after he attacked a referee and called France a “s**t country.” He was heard shouting “Wake up, wake up, we’re not amateurs. F***ing a*****e.

“I’ve never seen this in my 15 years playing football. I’ve been playing for 15 years and I’ve never seen [good] refereeing in this s**t country. They don’t even deserve PSG in this country.” It enraged a lot of politicians as Marine Le Pen, president of the far-right Front National went as far to say that he is free to leave the country if he wants.

The striker’s outbursts also made French sports minister Patrick Kanner to come out and tweet: “Ibrahimovic’s disappointment doesn’t justify his insults towards the referee and the country that has welcomed him. He should apologise.”

Such a response from the French people made Ibrahimovic apologise and he later said that he was talking about referee Lionel Jaffredo and not France. He wrote: “I spoke about football. I lost the game, I accept that, but I can’t accept when the referee doesn’t follow the rules. It’s not the first time and I’m sick of it. My sincere apologies if anyone was offended, or took it the wrong way.” He was subsequently banned for four league games by Ligue 1.

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