Zlatan Ibrahimovic: "I should be banned for 40 games"
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has seemingly challenged the authorities to give him a 40-match ban if he is at fault.
His 100th cap for Sweden certainly didn’t go the way he would have liked. The forward captained his side in the 1-1 draw against Austria but the entire post-match focus is on one unsavoury incident involving him and David Alaba.
Zlatan with a “Don’t touch me” look when Rubin Okotie was marking him.
The incident in question happened in the first half when Zlatan’s elbow seemingly caught the Bayern Munich left-back. Austrian players were furious at the fact that the referee took no action against the Swede.
Defender Aleksandar Dragovic said: “It was a red card for me. The referee was scared of Zlatan.”
Ibrahomovic’s elbow seems to catch Alaba
Zlatan eventually got booked a couple of minutes later for another foul.
The former Barcelona, Inter and AC Milan forward however tried to play down the incident.
“The referee has everything under control,” he said. “He [Alaba] goes into me twice and the third time I try to shield the ball and he [Alaba] is 1.50m or 1.60m tall and then he obviously reaches up to my elbow. The referee blew for a free-kick so, of course, he has got the situation under control.”
"But if not, I should get a 40-match ban!" he added cheekily.