Guardiola sarcastically reacts to Ibrahimovic’s claims

Spanish manager Pep Guardiola has hit back at claims by Zlatan Ibrahimovic that the Manchester City manager’s ego could stunt Erling Haaland’s development.

“Is Guardiola able to improve him? That depends on the ego that Guardiola has,” Ibrahimovic said during an appearance on CanalPlus, the French television channel. “If he allows himself to be bigger than Haaland or not. He didn’t allow me or the others to be as big.”

Ibrahimovic, the 41-year-old AC Milan and Sweden forward, had an acrimonious relationship with Guardiola when playing under him at Barcelona during the 2009-10 season.

Guardiola, 51, offered a sarcastic response to Ibrahimovic on Friday night, saying: “He is right, he is completely right. In this club, in this team, my ego is beyond every other person, every player.

“I don’t like it when Erling scores three goals, and all the highlight is for him. I am so jealous! Honestly, so jealous!”

Haaland has scored 22 goals in 16 matches for City since joining in a £51 million move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

He has missed City’s past two games with a foot injury, and Guardiola said he would make a late decision on whether the 22-year-old will return for the Premier League game against Fulham on Saturday.

Ibrahimovic has previously said that his season at Barcelona was the “worst memory” in his career, saying, “I disappointed myself. I lost my identity there.”

In 2017, he spoke about his relationship with Guardiola to Sky Sports Italia, saying: “I’’d walk into a room and he’d walk out. I’d go to meet him and he’d go somewhere else. I understood that there was something beyond football.

“The problem was his, it was he who hadn’t solved the problem with me. I remember on my first day, he told me that the Barcelona players didn’t turn up to training in Ferraris or Porsches. He’d already judged me then.

“He wasn’t the worst coach I’d worked under, but he was certainly the most immature because a man solves his problems.”