Zlatan speaks to the press again about rocky relationship with former Barca chief.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has once again reopened the war of words between himself and Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola by labelling him as a ‘coward’, ESPN writes.
Upon the German release of Ibrahimovic’s autobiography ‘I am Zlatan’, the Sweden international renewed his criticism of Guardiola, under whom he played for one year at Barcelona, before leaving for AC Milan in 2010.
“Guardiola is a fantastic coach. But as a human? He is a coward. He is no man,” Ibrahimovic said.
He also claimed that star forward Lionel Messi came to Guardiola complaining about him because “I scored more goals than him,” and since then he never stood a chance under the former Barca midfielder.
He said: “I told him that if I don’t fit here, you have to please tell me that. But all I got was sweet talk. ‘Ibra you are a super player, you do everything right’. But I still ended up on the bench.”
Ibrahimovic also added that he “would have died for [Jose] Mourinho”, whom he worked with at Inter Milan and is a rival of Guardiola from their days as opposing managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“He is outstanding. Very intelligent and a great motivator. Guardiola’s philosophical team talks on the other hand — they are bull***t for the advanced,” he said.
“Mourinho can handle personalities, he is able to form a team out of 11 characters. But Guardiola isn’t. Why did he opt for Munich? Because the team functions without him.
“It’s a complete team. He bought new players, but he does not need them. It was a smart move by Guardiola, because nothing can go wrong in Munich. He will have success.”