Best of 2013: Top 5 controversial football moments of 2013

4. The Ronaldo-Ibrahimovic spat –

Where there’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there’s controversy. The Swedish international may be one of the best players in the world, but he’s worst at commenting about fellow football professionals.

The FIFA World Cup qualifiers saw Sweden and Portugal take on each other in the final round. World Cup was going to miss out on either Cristiano Ronaldo or PSG talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But as you would expect, ‘Ibracadabra’ had something to say before the tie. According to the former Barcelona man, the World Cup needed “Zlatan more than Ronaldo.”

The first leg of the tie took place in Portugal. The hosts won 1-0 through their captain Ronaldo’s goal. It was the second leg though that brought the tie to life. The game ended 3-2 in Portugal’s favour. Ronaldo scored Portugal’s 3, Ibrahimovic scored Sweden’s 2; but it was the former Manchester United man who came out on top.

After Ronaldo scored his third, Ibrahimovic was seen applauding the former, which impressed many fans and journalists. But that was soon to erase, when Ibrahimovic cleared out that it was not Ronaldo, but his teammates who he was clapping for. When asked about Ronaldo’s performance, he cheekily replied – “Is he the best? I can only say he scored one more than I did.”