Manchester United: Zlatan Ibrahimovic jokingly refuses to hand Paul Pogba man-of-the-match award

The pair have struck a strong relationship off the pitch - which finally looks to be blossoming on it too

Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are finally starting to gel on the pitch (Getty)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is well known for his sense of humour and despite his fearsome reputation on the pitch, the Swede is always one up for a joke (in the right circumstances, of course).

This was very much the case on Wednesday night as Ibrahimovic jokingly refused to hand the Paul Pogba his man-of-the match award in the wake of Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

The charismatic Swede provided the assist for the Frenchman’s opening goal before later latching on to the end of his team mate’s pass to score a late winner and take all three points from Selhurst Park.

But when asked by the BT Sport interview to present Pogba with the prize, Zlatan wasn’t having any of it.

“No,” he replied. “I’ll keep it for me.”

Attempting to keep a straight face for as he did so, the 35-year-old eventually broke out laughing and handed over the award.

Although Pogba was a deserving recipient of ‘man-of-the-match’, Ibrahimovic put in an equally impressive performance as Jose Mourinho’s side recorded their first back-to-back domestic wins since August.

The night could have panned out in a very different way though had the match officials spotted a possible infringement in the build-up to United’s first goal.

Pogba appeared to be in an offside position as the free-kick was floated into the box while Ibrahimovic looked to have controlled the ball with his hand before it eventually fell to the Frenchman to hit home.

Asked if the ball did in fact hit his hand, Ibrahimovic suggestively remarked: “Could be, could be. I tried just to forward [the ball] to Paul because he was free and I think it touched the hand a little bit and then my stomach. I need to see the images.”