A reminder of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s ‘hatred’ for Edinson Cavani, following AC Milan vs Man United draw
Last Updated: February 27, 2021 11:23 am
Comments on the part of an ex-teammate of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, surrounding the Swede’s deep-seated issues with Edinson Cavani, have come back to the fore online on Friday.
United vs Milan
Such developments of course come on the back of the Europa League Last-16 draw earlier today.
After the final set of Last-32 fixtures played out on Thursday night, the winner of each two-legged affair discovered their respective fates for the competition’s next round.
A number of interesting ties, in turn, were forthcoming, with Arsenal set to face off with the side who ousted them from Europe almost a year ago to the day, in the form of Olympiacos.
Elsewhere, AS Roma will take on Shakhtar Donetsk, with Steven Gerrard’s Rangers paired with Leicester-downing Slavia Prague.
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – DECEMBER 29: Rangers Manager, Steven Gerrard looks on during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premier League between Celtic and at Ibrox Stadium on December 29, 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Without doubt, though, the Last-16’s most high-profile clash comes in the form of the showdown between two of European football’s historic heavyweights – Manchester United and AC Milan.
The clubs boast 14 major European titles between them, with both sides currently sitting 2nd in their respective league tables.
‘With Ibra or against him’
As such, fans, realistically, should not require any added motivation to get themselves excited for the tie’s first-leg, set to take place on the 11th of March at Old Trafford.
As outlined above, though, for those select few who do, it is perhaps worth re-highlighting past comments on the part of Michael Ciani, a former LA Galaxy teammate of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The comments in question surround the AC Milan star’s disdain for now-Manchester United hitman Edinson Cavani, following their time spent together at PSG.
Speaking in an interview with French outlet RMC Sport last year, Ciani revealed that Cavani actually represents one of a small selection of players Ibra has played with, whom he ended up legitimately ‘hating’:
‘If you are close with Cavani, Ibra doesn’t like it. Either you are with Ibra or against him.’
‘He told me that everything was fine with [former manager] Laurent Blanc at PSG. The only person he did not get along with was Cavani.’
‘He told me that he had only hated three or four team-mates in his entire career… and one of them was Cavani.’
It is of course also worth remembering that, just a month ago, Ibrahimovic came close to blows with Romelu Lukaku, another one-time teammate of the 39-year-old:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku went head-to-head 😳 pic.twitter.com/8U7nMpH4kH
— Goal (@goal) January 26, 2021
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This article was edited by Josh Barker.
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| 2 | Manchester United FC | 31 | 27 | 63 |
| 3 | Leicester City FC | 31 | 18 | 56 |
| 4 | West Ham United FC | 32 | 11 | 55 |
| 5 | Chelsea FC | 31 | 19 | 54 |
| 6 | Liverpool FC | 31 | 16 | 52 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 32 | 17 | 50 |
| 8 | Everton FC | 31 | 3 | 49 |
| 9 | Arsenal FC | 31 | 8 | 45 |
| 10 | Leeds United | 31 | 0 | 45 |
| 11 | Aston Villa FC | 30 | 10 | 44 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 31 | -10 | 38 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace FC | 31 | -19 | 38 |
| 14 | Southampton FC | 31 | -17 | 36 |
| 15 | Newcastle United FC | 32 | -18 | 35 |
| 16 | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 31 | -5 | 33 |
| 17 | Burnley FC | 31 | -17 | 33 |
| 18 | Fulham FC | 32 | -18 | 26 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 31 | -31 | 24 |
| 20 | Sheffield United FC | 31 | -38 | 14 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 21 |
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 19 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 16 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 14 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 14 |
| Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 14 |
| Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 13 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 12 |
| Watkins, Ollie | Aston Villa FC | 12 |
| Gundogan, Ilkay | Manchester City FC | 12 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 10 |
| Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 10 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 9 |
| Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 9 |
| Mahrez, Riyad | Manchester City FC | 9 |
| Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 9 |
| Lingard, Jesse | West Ham United FC | 9 |
| Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace FC | 9 |
| Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick | Arsenal FC | 9 |
| Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 9 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maguire, Harry | Manchester United FC | 0 | 9 |
| Lundstram, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 8 |
| Gallagher, Conor | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 8 |
| Bellerin, Hector | Arsenal FC | 0 | 8 |
| Milivojevic, Luka | Crystal Palace FC | 1 | 7 |
| Luiz, Douglas | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Hayden, Isaac | Newcastle United FC | 0 | 8 |
| Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 1 | 6 |
| Shaw, Luke | Manchester United FC | 0 | 7 |
| McGinn, John | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Neves, Ruben | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 0 | 7 |
| Hojbjerg, Pierre | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 0 | 7 |
| Xhaka, Granit | Arsenal FC | 1 | 6 |
| Phillips, Kalvin | Leeds United | 0 | 7 |
| Evans, Jonny | Leicester City FC | 0 | 7 |
| Egan, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 6 |
| Targett, Matt | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Holgate, Mason | Everton FC | 0 | 7 |
| Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 6 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 6 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 13 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 11 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 10 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City FC | 10 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 9 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 7 |
| Cresswell, Aaron | West Ham United FC | 7 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 6 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 6 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 6 |
| Pereira, Matheus | West Bromwich Albion | 6 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 6 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 6 |
| Werner, Timo | Chelsea FC | 6 |
| Neto, Pedro | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 6 |
| Gross, Pascal | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 6 |
| Digne, Lucas | Everton FC | 6 |
| Maddison, James | Leicester City FC | 5 |
| Bowen, Jarrod | West Ham United FC | 5 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United FC | 5 |
