Zlatan Ibrahimovic can be charming and entertaining and is also very good at football, but L.A. Galaxy’s newest star is also ultra-competitive and known to have a temper, which he lost control of in the Galaxy’s match against Montreal Impact on Monday.
Impact’s Michael Petrasso backed into and stood on Ibrahimovic’s foot in the 40th minute, which prompted Ibrahimovic to lash out and slap his opponent in the face. Both players dropped to floor “injured” — this is soccer, after all — leaving referee Ismail Elfath to check with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to see what had happened.
After checking with VAR, the referee booked Petrasso and Ibrahimovic was shown the 13th red card of his career. L.A. Galaxy went on to win the game thanks to Ola Kamara, who scored the game’s only goal.
Watch the video above and leave your thoughts on Ibrahimovic and his MLS adventures in the comments.
Next, check out this op-ed on why the Swede’s move to Los Angeles makes perfect sense.
