Zlatan Ibrahimovic has always said exactly what he thinks and thinks.
Once it led to a real fury – among a whole range of the football world’s greatest.
– Zlatan probably knows more than we do…, said Ryan Giggs, clearly ironic.
Throughout his career, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of the football world’s absolute most feared goalscorers. But it is not only because of the way he has been on the field that he has been so immensely popular. Ibrahimovic has always been himself, and has never been afraid to express his opinion – regardless of the subject. And that has of course led to a lot of headlines and discussions.
Big game
When Zlatan Ibrahimovic was at Manchester United, many were surprised by his openness, and at one point the Swede even launched a scathing attack on some of the club’s – and the entire football world’s – greatest of all time. Everything was based on the fact that Zlatan’s close friend and former teammate Paul Pogba received a lot of criticism from former players.
Icons such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville and Nicky Butt took a swipe at Zlatan when he said the players “never dared to say anything”.
– In Sir Alex Ferguson’s small circle, you stayed all your life under Ferguson and at United. They never moved, Ibrahimovic said.
He then continued:
– They didn’t even dare to speak unless Ferguson asked them to open their mouths. So if they’re talking about Paul Pogba now, I don’t even know if Ferguson gave his permission for it.
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The icon’s answer
Ibrahimovic also suggested that the United legends, nicknamed ‘The Class of ’92’, became experts and only whine about not getting a role at Manchester United. But it didn’t take long before Zlatan got an answer to his speech, from none other than Ryan Giggs.
– We have over 2000 games played between us, we will have opinions about things. “Sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s negative, but that’s just the way it is,” Giggs said.
He also took the opportunity, with a lot of irony, to hit back at Ibrahimovic.
– We are supporters of the club together with other former players on TV or radio, that’s what football is about; to have opinions. But of course, Ibrahimovic knows so much more about the club than we can…
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