When I lived in Sweden, every hope for Swedish Fotbol was pinned squarely on the back of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. From his Allsvenskan days with Malmo FC when he was just a teenager and had a television crew following him around for an entire season, to his huge transfer fee to Ajax, to his transfer to Juventus, their relegation at the hands of scandal and his latest eventual move to Inter Milan to stay in Serie A, the country couldn’t get enough.

As much as they love him on the field for being by far the best player in the history of the game, the Swedes also know what a prick he can be. Countless times he’s thrown teammates under the bus for their play and decision making, rather than keeping it in house and while he might have the adoration of the fans, not so much from his peers.

After Marco Matterazi was sent off in the first half of Inter’s 2-0 Champions League defeat at Anfield, Ibrahimovic had a major go at his teammate when asked what he thought by an Italian reporter, “Why don’t you go ask Materazzi what happened”. Today he tried clearing things up a little.

My theory was you don’t have to like your teammates, you just have to battle with them and you can bet those two don’t like each other.

image via PubTV2