Zlatan Ibrahimovic couldn’t help but have a dig at Cristiano Ronaldo and his fans after watching Lionel Messi inspire Argentina’s dramatic comeback against Egypt at the World Cup.
Ibrahimovic is a former team-mate of Messi during their time together at Barcelona and has made no secret of which side he sits in the great Messi versus Ronaldo debate.
And he had the perfect opportunity to stick the boot into the Portuguese superstar just 24 hours after their elimination to Spain.
Speaking after Messi scored in the defending champions’ 3-2 win over Egypt, with all their goals coming in the final 11 minutes plus injury-time, Ibrahimovic told Fox Sports: “My condolences to all those who hate Messi and to all Ronaldo’s followers who thought they could laugh tonight.
”At 0-2 they were already celebrating the victory. But then Messi reminded the world why a football match doesn’t end until the final whistle sounds. Now they go to bed with pain and tears while Argentina are in the quarter-finals. That’s soccer, that’s something great.”
Messi was a beast – Ibrahimovic hails Argentina captain
Messi had had a wretched evening until he levelled the scores at 2-2 in the 83rd minute, adding to Cristian Romero’s effort.
The Inter Miami man had earlier missed his fourth World Cup penalty in eight attempts and generally looked out of sorts.
But he stepped up when it mattered, paving the way for Enzo Fernandez to head home in stoppage time.
Egypt complained about the standard of refereeing with several 50-50 calls going the way of Argentina but Ibrahimovic preferred to focus his attention on Messi.
He added: “Messi was a beast. No-one could stop him. He didn’t stop. This is the Messi I know, the Messi we have always seen and the one we continue to see. Don’t forget, he has already won a World Cup. Messi has won countless awards, Ballons d’Or, everything. Just look at his record, pure perfection. And even so, he is still hungry for more.”
Argentina will face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday night.
