Zlatan's biggest football fight was with ex-Milan teammate in 2010. The scrap led to Zlatan suffering a broken rib. The Swede clashed with a host of big names over the years including Pep Guardiola and Romelu Lukaku.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic one of the great footballing entertainers. One of the most legendary and talented players to have graced the beautiful game, his personality has led to both on and off the field incidents, meaning he will forever be remembered as one of the most feared and treasured characters. His war of words with Pep Guardiola during their time together at Barcelona are looked back upon as one of the defining moments of the Swedish striker's career, and his on-field bust-up with Romelu Lukaku during a Milan derby stole worldwide headlines at the time.
However, neither of these clashes were regarded by Zlatan to be his worst. That particular accolade would instead fall to former Milan centre-back Oguchi Onyewu, with who Ibrahimovic claimed "we wanted to tear each other limb from limb." Lionel Messi and Xavi all feature in Ibrahimovic's dream team made up of teammates from his career.
'We Flew at Each Other' The incident took place behind closed doors in a training session, so those wishing for a video insert will sadly be left disappointed. Therefore, as with every story that is heard by many but witnessed by few, we rely on the words of Zlatan to commit to memory exactly what happened between himself and Onyewu when they were Milan teammates. There is very little about Zlatan that is not known.
Standing at 6'5 and weighing in at around 95 kilos, the Sweden legend also holds a black belt in Taekwondo, which he did not miss the opportunity to demonstrate. Ibra had his first spell with the Rossoneri between 2010 and 2012, helping the San Siro outfit win their last league title, in 2011 until 2022, when Zlatan returned to win it once more. However, the name of Oguchi Onyewu may only be known to the most introspective viewers of football fans.
A Nigerian-American center back, he earned a respectable career that saw him capped 69 times by the USMNT, and took part in two World Cup campaigns. He made his way to Milan in 2009 but he failed to break into the first team, largely in part to a nasty knee injury, making just one appearance in Milan in his two years there. The pair didn’t like each other from the very beginning.
But when Ibrahimovic slide-tackled Onyewu during a practice session in November 2010, all hell broke loose. Witnesses report with surprise that Ibrahimovic’s tackle wasn’t even an overly vicious one. Still, Onyewu didn’t like it one bit.
The American stood up, grabbed Zlatan by the neck, and the rest is (fighting) history. Apparently, Zlatan and Onyewu did not get along right from the outset and, when Ibrahimovic launched a slide tackle in Onyewu's direction in training in November 2010, all hell broke loose. Witnesses to the incident reported that Ibra's attempted tackle on Onyewu was not even a particularly fierce one, but was still more than enough to incense the American into a fist fight.
Onyewu would snap back to his feet, grab Zlatan by the throat, and, well, we'll let Zlatan do the talking as to what followed: "The next time he got the ball in training; I rushed towards him and jumped up with my feet and studs out in front. "But he saw me and leapt out of the way. I headbutted him, and we flew at each other.
We wanted to tear each other limb from limb. It was brutal. We were rolling around, punching and kneeing each other.
We were crazy and furious — it was like life and death. "I was stopped by my team-mates, and I suppose that was a good thing. It could have turned out nasty.
All the time, I was thinking: ‘S***, my chest hurts,’ so we had it checked out. I’d broken a rib in the fight. It was not the first time I’d had a dispute with a team-mate.
" The bad blood stems from their Barcelona days, and it doesn't appear as though the air has been cleared since. Zlatan's Incidents Zlatan's career path has always been an interesting one. Claimed as one of the best players to have never won the Champion's League, his excellent talent was matched by his feisty actions both on and off the field.
An on-field incendiary spat with Inter striker Romelu Lukaku was one of the most recent ones. During the Milan derby, the two ex- Manchester United teammates launched into a war of words, with the two strikers clashing heads and being in need of physical restraint by teammates as they made their way down the tunnels. If you wish to delve deeper into his career in search of his incidents, perhaps cast a lens toward his clash with Rafael Van der Vaart in 2004.
The duo were teammates at club level at the time, both plying their paid trade for Ajax in the Netherlands, but faced off with one another in friendly action between Sweden and the Netherlands. As Zlatan sought to break into the box, a host of Dutch players swarmed him and brought him down, with Zlatan incensed enough to aim a shove toward anyone in the crowd, with the eventual recipient being his Ajax cohort. VDV went down and injured his ankle from the fracas, leaving him on the shelf for a couple of games at club level, whilst also telling newspapers that Zlatan had aimed for him and injured him on purpose.
Writing in his autobiography, Zlatan failed to share that particular sentiment: "Zlatan did it on purpose, said Van der Vaart, and I saw red. I didn't injure you on purpose, and you know that. If you accuse me again I'll break both your legs, and that time it will be on purpose.
".
