How Leo Messi caused the rift between Pep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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By Dov Rawson Thursday, September 8th, 2016 15:53

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic fails in Barcelona

34-year-old Manchester Unite striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the second most expensive transfer of all-time when he joined Barcelona in 2009.

Things started well under Pep Guardiola but it quickly turned sour, with the Swedish striker leaving for AC Milan just one year after joining the Catalan giants.

Related: Manchester Derby – Preview, line-ups and predictions.

The Guardiola Vs. Ibrahimovic rift down to Messi

Zlatan Ibrahimovic discussed his poor relationship with Pep Guardiola in his autobiography ‘I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic‘.

“Messi started saying things,” Ibrahimovic wrote. “Lionel Messi is amazing. He’s totally amazing. He joined Barça when he was 13. He was brought up in that culture and doesn’t have a problem with that school crap. But now I was there, and I was scoring more goals than him.

He went to Guardiola and said: ‘I don’t want to be on the right wing any more, I want to play in the centre.’ I was the striker. Guardiola didn’t give a damn about that, though. He changed the tactical formation. Guardiola had to listen to him. But I mean, come on, I had scored loads of goals at Barça and I’d been pretty awesome as well.”

His relationship with Pep Guardiola fell apart from there. It could be a frosty reunion when they meet again this weekend when Manchester United host Manchester City.

Not one to quietly get his head down, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already been busy trolling new Man City keeper Claudio Bravo.