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Zlatan Ibrahimovic accuses 'someone' (Pep Guardiola) for Barcelona's failure to win Champions League

Striker appears to lay blame on coach for semi-final exit during 2009/2010 campaign

Simon Rice
Monday 29 September 2014 15:10 BST
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Pep Guardiola during their time together at Barcelona
Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Pep Guardiola during their time together at Barcelona (GETTY IMAGES)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has continued his long-running feud with Pep Guardiola by suggesting the manager was to blame for Barcelona's failure to win the Champions League during the 2009/10 season.

That was the one campaign that the Swedish striker spent at the Nou Camp and he was a part of the squad that reached the semi-final of the tournament.

During the second-leg against eventual champions Inter Milan, Barcelona needed to win by 2-0 to advance on away goals having lost the first-leg 3-1. Despite the need for a goal, Guardiola substituted Ibrahimovich for Bojan Krkic after 63 minutes. Barcelona would win the game 1-0, but it wasn't enough.

Speaking ahead of PSG's game against his former side on Tuesday, a game Ibrahimovic will miss due to a heel injury, the striker hinted where he lays the blame for Barcelona's failure that year.

“We had the best team in the world, for sure. But we failed to win the Champions League because of bad decisions from someone,” Ibrahimovic told Canal+.

“But it’s like that. It’s nothing to complain about today. You have to forget it because I had great moments at Barcelona.”

Ibrahimovic was highly critical of Guardiola in his autobiography, claiming the Spanish coach who is now in charge of Bayern Munich, used to "bully" him. He also revealed that one row ended with the striker shouting at the coach, "you have no balls".

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