Ibrahimovic opens up on Guardiola feud: "You f*** with me, I f*** with you'
Suraj Radia
- 5 Oct 2023 15:04 BST
- 4 min read
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has opened up about his relationship with Pep Guardiola during his time at Barcelona, revealing he parked his Ferrari outside the Spaniard’s office after being told not to bring it to the training ground.
Ibra made a big-money move to Barcelona in 2009, signing from Inter for €46 million plus Samuel Eto’o going the other way as well as Alexander Hleb on loan.
His time on the pitch with Barca was successful, scoring 21 goals in his first season, but problems off the pitch between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola, with the 42-year-old calling his then-manager a ‘spineless coward’ in his 2013 autobiography.
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Reflecting on the controversy, Ibrahimovic stated his stunt was due to Guardiola not being open in his communication with the striker, which led to the Swede’s retaliation because ‘if you f*** with me, I f*** with you.’
“When I met Pep Guardiola, he told me: "Remember, the players here do not come with Ferraris,” Ibrahomovic told Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“What did I do? Of course. I brought my f***ing Ferrari. I yelled: "You haven't got any b***s!" and worse than that I added: "You can go to hell!”
He later added: “So I parked the car in front of his office. So you f*** with me, I f*** with you, that was my motto.”
Ibra: You want to play with fire? I will bring you fire but I will burn you
Ibrahimovic continued detailing the events of how his relationship with Guardiola deteriorated, revealing that his anger was fuelled by ‘a situation which was not created by my own choice.’
“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,” Ibrahimovic continued.
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“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.
"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.
"You f*** with me, I f*** with you."
Zlatan Ibrahimović reveals how he handled his fractious relationship with former boss Pep Guardiola. And there's much more where that came from - tonight at 8pm.@Ibra_official | @piersmorgan | #PMU pic.twitter.com/bbNF1dbvYY— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) October 5, 2023
"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.”
