Zlatan Ibrahimovic praises Erling Haaland. And takes a swipe at Pep Guardiola

Ibra praises Haaland but does not fail to provoke Guardiola

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still struggling with the long rehabilitation after cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee. The Swedish center forward, who is expected to return in 2023, gave an interview to Canal Plus in which he spoke about Haaland, not refraining from attacking for the umpteenth time Pep Guardiola, his coach during his brief stay at Barcelona with whom he had ups and downs.

Ibra began by singing Haaland’s praises, “I like him a lot, he is a very intelligent player, he doesn’t do things that are out of his league. He doesn’t get down to play the ball, he waits in front of the goal and scores. He reminds me of players like Inzaghi, Trezeguet and Vieri. In fact, he is a new version of all three.”

He then took a swipe at Guardiola: “Can Guardiola improve him? It depends on his ego. Whether he allows himself to be bigger than him or not. He hasn’t allowed me or others to do that.”

Finally, he also had his say on Kylian Mbappé: “If Mbappé did well to stay in Paris-for whom, for him? No. For PSG maybe yes. He put himself in the most important position for the club and the club gave him the keys to everything.”

“You are never bigger than your club, but when a boy becomes strong, he can easily generate income. Then his parents become lawyers, agents, coaches…. That’s the problem, and when that happens you lose control of yourself and your identity. With this new generation, parents think they are going to be stars, they even talk in the newspapers. But who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?” concluded Ibra, criticizing the entourage of the PSG and French national team star.