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Zlatan Ibrahimovic sends Cristiano Ronaldo a birthday present - a 'Dare to Zlatan' gift

Ronaldo sent his thanks to the PSG striker but admitted it will look better on him than his rival in a light-hearted exchange on Twitter

Jack de Menezes
Thursday 06 February 2014 12:53 GMT
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent Cristiano Ronaldo a self-personalised birthday present
Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent Cristiano Ronaldo a self-personalised birthday present

Cristiano Ronaldo finally broke his six year baron spell with his second Ballon d’Or award last month, but it seems Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains intent on teaching the Real Madrid superstar a thing or two when it comes to boosting his ego.

Ronaldo celebrated his 29th birthday on Wednesday, and received an unlikely present from the Paris St Germain striker via his official Twitter account. The post, sent directly to Ronaldo, read: “Happy birthday @Cristiano. I have sent your new favourite outfit in the post”, along with a picture of a t-shirt with “Dare to Zlatan” embroidered across it.

As if the gesture wasn’t enough, everyone’s favourite Swede put the cherry on the cake as he wrapped the t-shirt in exclusive Ibrahimovic-style wrapping paper, complete with miniature logos of the 32-year-old forward.

But ever the professional, Ronaldo tweeted his gratitude to Ibrahimovic, but couldn't resist a swipe himself as he admitted he would pull it off better than his Swedish counterpart, writing: "Thank you for the birthday present @Ibra_official. It will look better on me than you though."

The two went head-to-head in November as Sweden and Portugal competed for a place in this year’s World Cup, with Ronaldo’s Portugal triumphing to book their place in Brazil. The defeat led to the proclamation from Ibrahimovic that the tournament wouldn’t be worth watching without him there, and he also claimed that Ronaldo can have the Ballon d’Or because, in his eyes, “I know I am the best.”

Wednesday was quite a day for birthdays in the football world, as Ronaldo was left to celebrate along with Barcelona’s Neymar, Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj and Juventus striker Carlos Tevez.

However, his celebrations – helped by the 3-0 Copa del Rey victory over Atletico Madrid – was soon soured as he was handed an extended three-match ban for his gesture that he made following his red card in Sunday’s draw against Athletic Bilbao.

Ronaldo sent his thanks to Ibrahimovic, but admitted it the t-shirt might look better on him than the PSG striker

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