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IBRAHIMOVIC

Zlatan defends France jibe on home soil

Sweden's star striker has insisted he enjoys living in France and won't be dragged down by critics, while speaking at a press conference ahead of his national side's European Championship qualifier against Moldova on Friday.

Published: 25 March 2015 15:55 CET
Zlatan defends France jibe on home soil
Zlatan at a press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday. Photo: TT
The 33-year-old caused a stir earlier this month after saying he thought France was "a shit country" while he was angry about decisions made by a French referee during a match for his Paris club PSG.
 
At a press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday he told Swedish reporters that he enjoyed living in his new adopted country, but added that he was still angry about Lionel Jaffredo's actions during his side's 3-2 defeat to Bordeaux, and cross about the criticism he has received since his outburst.
 
"I like France! Everything else is rubbish. I would not have come to France if I didn't like it, and I certainly wouldn't have extended my contract if I didn't like it. I would not have played for so long if I didn't like it," he said.
 
"They just want to drag me down from the top but I will not go. I like it on top. That's where I'll stay." 
 
"I was punished instead of the referee for errors that he made," he added.
 
Asked if he felt the referee should face a punishment, he responded: "No idea. What do you think?"
 
Zlatan's much-debated comment following the match against Bordeaux was: “In 15 years, I have never seen such a referee. In this shit country, this country does not deserve PSG. We are too good for this country.” 

He later apologized for his remark, saying “I expressed myself when I was upset and everyone knows that in these moments, the words surpass the meaning”.

The French league initially said it would decide last week whether or not to take sanctions over his outburst. But RMC Sport later reported that he would instead be called to appear in front of a disciplinary committee on April 9th.

Why Zlatan might think France is shit

 
He has previously come out with remarks including "a World Cup without me isn't worth watching" and mocked a local reporter who didn't have his own camera by asking “so it is low-budget?”.
 
When asked on Wednesday about the criticism of his latest outburst by French politicians, including the country's Prime Minister and Sports Minister, he told reporters that he only cared about negative feedback if it came from people close to him, adding that comments by journalists and politicians did not cause him to "itch" anywhere.
 
But the striker concluded with what appeared to be a threat that he might also criticize them in future.
 
"What goes around comes around," he said in English.
 
He also hit out at the decision to hand him a one-match Champions League ban following his sending-off against Chelsea recently.
 
"If you look at the situation, I am going to be punished more for an unjustifiable red card than the referee for his mistake… It is not acceptable," he said.
 
He will miss the first leg of PSG's quarter-final against his old club Barcelona in Paris on April 15th.
 
Sweden's UEFA European Championship game against Moldova kicks off at 8.45pm this Friday.

IBRAHIMOVIC

Why France might not be too sad to see Ibrahimovic go

While PSG fans will no doubt lament the departure of a legend, many in France won't be too sad to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic walk away, because he earned and said far too much.

Published: 13 May 2016 11:18 CEST
Why France might not be too sad to see Ibrahimovic go
All Photos: AFP

“I came as a king and left as a legend”

Ibrahimovic’s announcement on Twitter that he was to leave PSG was classic cocky Zlatan – the same Zlatan who once told a journalist that he was “looking at God”.

Bags of goals, four league titles and several cups mean fans of PSG will no doubt agree with Zlatan’s own analysis of his stature.

Apart perhaps from those who think he under performed in the big matches like every Champions League quarter final PSG played in before getting knocked out.

But Ibrahimovic had a different relation with the rest of France, especially the newly elected Socialist government with whom he made enemies as soon as stepped off the plane from Milan in the summer of 2012.

His initial salary of €14 million a year (which recently rocketed to €1.5 million a month) – by far the most ever paid to a French player had MPs in a froth. At a time when France was struggling with unemployment, Ibrahimovic and his salary represented everything that wrong with the world.

While some rejoiced in the fact he would be paying the notorious 75 percent tax on much of his earnings, a former sports minister said it was “disgusting”, another said “deplorable” and ex-Budget Minister Jérôme Cahuzac (pictured below) described the pay as “indecent”.

Although to be fair to Ibrahimovic, he doesn’t have to take any merde from Cahuzac, the minister who admitted hiding hundreds of thousands of euros away in a secret Swiss bank account. Now that’s indecent.

Of course a few outbursts from a few politicians were hardly going to knock the mighty Ibrahimovic out of his giant stride, but maybe the snipings did get to him.

In a famous rant, that unfortunately for Zlatan was caught on camera, he called France a “shit” country that “didn’t deserve” his club PSG.

Once again it was politicians who came off the bench to attack the man-bunned Swede.

Insulting France was never likely to go down well with the far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who invited Ibrahimovic to pack his bags.

“Those who consider France a shit country can leave,” she said.

Jerome Guedj, a leading Socialist party politician, called the remarks “unacceptable”. “Let him play football and shut up, or at least be respectful of this country, the football supporters who were also insulted.”

To be fair to the player himself, he later apologised.

“My words were not targeting France or the French people. I was speaking about football and nothing else,” the apologetic striker said.

But it wasn’t the first time Ibrahimovic had upset the locals, indeed he regularly broke the golden rule foreigners need to observe in France – being complimentary to your hosts, at least in public.

Here’s what he once said about Parisians:

“I don’t know what they want. We win, we lose and they whistle.

“Maybe they are used to eating caviar before they come to the match,” he said.

But it wasn’t just his money or his mouth that made him somewhat unpopular in France, there were other traits that hardly endeared him to the locals.

For a start the French love someone who will at least make an attempt with their language.

Zlatan, it can be said, was hardly an enthusiastic student as one web joker pointed as he mocked Zlatan over his “King, legend” Tweet.

“He came with no French, he left with no French.”

The rant against France was in English, as was his final tweet and most press conferences, but to be fair he did attempt to speak French once on television, much to the enjoyment of his giggling teammates (see below).

Then there was his arrogance, which might be judged a valuable quality in Paris, but outside the capital, arrogance isn’t really as welcomed as you might think.

Ibrahimovic was so cocky that when he suggested Paris should pull down the Eiffel Tower and replace it with a statue of himself, most believed he was being serious.

The player made it pretty clear from the very beginning of his time at PSG that France’s Ligue 1 was simply too small fry for him although he was prepared to put up with it.

“I don’t know a lot about Ligue 1, but Ligue 1 knows exactly who I am,” was what he said when he first arrived in France.

Another famous Parisian trait he picked up was the love of a good moan.

He apparently grew frustrated by having to stay in the luxury Grand Hotel (see below) as he struggled to find a suitable apartment in Paris.

Granted we can all sympathise with him when it comes to the nightmare of flat-hunting in Paris, apart from the fact he was looking for a palace, not a 30 square metre flat with a separate kitchen and toilet if possible.

The striker's flat-hunting ordeal went on for months until Le Parisien newspaper reported that in December last year he finally found the apartment he had been looking for (or three of them to be precise, which he was going to knock together).

Ibrahimovic will also not be lamented too much by France’s feminists.  When asked about the role of his wife in his career, he said: “My wife stays at home to look after my kids. It’s the only thing I need her to do.”

So while Zlatan Ibrahimovic the player will no doubt leave France as a legend, Zlatan the man, might not (well apart from his tax revenues).

Although as one PSG fan pointed out, all the reasons presented above are exactly why Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be missed in France, even if not everyone will admit it.

 

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