The UEFA Champions League is apparently the home of elite-level soccer and grade-school insults.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of world soccer’s greatest players, launched a verbal barb at an opponent — Sacha Kljestan — during a UEFA Champions League game between Paris Saint-Germain and RSC Anderlecht on Tuesday. Anderlecht’s American midfielder Kljestan told a Belgian newspaper that Ibrahimovic reacted to a routine tackle by insulting his mustache, according to the Guardian.
“After a perfectly normal challenge, Ibra turned to me and provoked me, making a joke about my moustache, saying: ‘That really is terrible,'” Kljestan told Het Nieuwsblad. “I responded by saying that he should think about his nose.”
Ibrahimovic torched Anderlecht last week, scoring four goals (including a 35-yard lightning bolt) in his team’s 5-0 win. The Swedish superstar’s performance was more subdued Tuesday, as he scored just once in the 1-1 draw.
Kljestan didn’t have the best of games either. The U.S. international was sent off in the 82nd minute — not for offensive facial hair, but for a second yellow card in the game.
There’s not much more we can say about the little back-and-forth between the two players except: “sick burns, guys.”
See Kljestan’s mustache and Ibrahimovic’s nose below.
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