There is no doubt that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will go down as one of the greatest strikers of the modern era. Before hanging up his boots recently, the giant Swede enjoyed an illustrious career spanning over a decade and a half and included stints at the biggest clubs in Europe.
The one pockmark on Ibrahimovic’s glittering career would be his spell at FC Barcelona and how things unraveled between him and then-manager Pep Guardiola.
The former PSG and AC Milan striker has never been one to mince his words and has already said a lot about why it never clicked between him and Guardiola at Barça.
And in a recent interview with Piers Morgan, he once again shed light on the pair’s relationship during the one season that they worked together in Catalonia.
Ibrahimovic acknowledged the fact that Guardiola is a great coach and has changed the way people look at football, saying:
“I think Guardiola is a great coach. When I was there, the coaching was different than before. He is on a different level and that’s why he is successful, because when you look at his 15-year career, he was never third, he was always first or second.”
However, he admitted to having major problems with the former Barcelona boss, as he said: “As a coach he is great, but I have a different experience with him because I met him as a person and a problem came up that I am not aware of because normally I am a problem solver.
“I look in the eyes. the other person and it doesn’t mean I love you or hate you, but we will solve the problem.”
“I also told him: ‘Hey, if I am arrogant, tell me, if I do something wrong, tell me, if I am not good enough, tell me, if you don’t like anything I do, tell me, I will solve the problem, I will leave. I am not here to create problems, I am here to achieve my dream’ and he didn’t answer me, but the matter went on well for 6 months.”
Zlatan has previously spoken about how Lionel Messi’s emergence as Guardiola’s main man hampered him and once again touched on the matter, as he said:
“I went up to him and said: can we talk amicably? I told him I’m not doing well. I think with the Messi situation I also need more space. You signed me, so I need my space to do what I’m good at, because the way you are playing now, I’m not good enough at that and it’s better to put other players in.”
“I was clear and frank. We spoke normally because I never had any problems with a coach before. It was my first time with him. He said to me at the end of the conversation in a cool way, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this’, I said, ‘It’s fine, very good’. Next game I’m a substitute.”
Zlatan then went on to reveal that him being left on the bench in subsequent games without being given an explanation is where things went downhill, as he said:
“The second game it’s a benching, the third game it’s a benching. I started trying to try to work harder to show myself. But then I realised it wasn’t about my performance. I think from my point of view Guardiola felt attacked.”
“The fourth match I was a substitute, and then I started to create confusion. That was not good for me, because I was in a situation that I did not create by my own choice.”
At this point, Zlatan revealed that he showed up to train in his Ferrari, going against what Guardiola had asked of him.
“I knew it would cause another problem, so I parked the car in front of his office. If you mess with me, I’ll mess with you. So I told him: If you want to play with fire, I’ll bring you fire, but I’ll burn you,” he remarked.
The relationship continued to deteriorate completely from thereon to a point of no return with there being no interactions between the pair whatsoever.
“The strange thing is also that we used to go to breakfast together in the morning. When I came in, Guardiola would get up and leave the room. On the pitch, he didn’t communicate with me,” Zlatan said.
“He could communicate with me even if he didn’t want to look me in the eye. If we were in the same place, he would turn around and leave ….. Then I realised it was more than just a player problem, because it was so strange.”
The former striker then went on to reveal that it was at this stage that he went on to call Guardiola a ‘coward with no b**ls’ as he would not confront the issue.
During the interview, the former Barcelona ace also confirmed that he had thrown a box of sports equipment in the direction of Guardiola, but it did not hit the latter.
The legendary Swede also stated that he had not spoken with Guardiola since their stint together in Barcelona, but insisted that he is happy to see how successful the manager has become.
“I think he is a great coach. What he did was to change football 100 percent. He was very successful.”
“As a man I saw him better in the press conferences. I saw that he improved a lot in his treatment. He is not the person I knew before, I mean, he is not the person I knew. I am happy for him. You can’t hate someone because of a situation like this.
“He thought of himself as a coach and I thought of myself as a player. The difference is that I solve my problems if I have them. The story is that from that moment until now I didn’t know what the problem was on his part towards me,” he remarked.
