Zlatan Ibrahimovic MOCKS Man United's Premier League rivals Liverpool over injury crisis

It's been three years since Zlatan Ibrahimovic left Manchester United for Major League Soccer (MLS) club Los Angeles Galaxy. But the respect for the Old Trafford outfit isn't dying out anytime soon for the former Swedish forward. Ibrahimovic, who is currently plying his trade with Serie A giants AC Milan, took a cheeky jibe at defending Premier League champions Liverpool for their injury struggle since the start of the current campaign. 

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic speaks at Sanremo Festival 

Ibrahimovic was in attendance at the opening night of the 80-year-old Sanremo Festival. The event kicked off on March 2 and shall continue until March 6. The AC Milan striker was given an opportunity to address the crowd. And he decided to make the most of the moment to mock Liverpool's injury crisis. 

Ibrahimovic began his address with the claim that he would have his own festival one day, insisting a bigger stage equivalent to San Siro would be required. 27 singers were set to perform at the festival and the 39-year-old was quick to suggest that four of them need to be sold off to form two teams of 11 players. 

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Liverpool injury news: Ibrahimovic mocks Reds' injury struggles 

He did not stop here. The former Man United striker also had a solution for the four singers who were to be sold off. "I’ll sell four since there are 27 singers in the competition, there is Liverpool looking for defenders, otherwise I’ll put them in the garden and let them work", said Ibrahimovic as quoted by Manchester Evening News. 

Indeed, Liverpool have struggled with several injuries since the start of the current campaign. Virgil van Dijk remains the key absentee following an ACL injury in the initial stages. Joel Matip and Joseph Gomez have also been on the sidelines, further posing a deterrent for Jurgen Klopp in defending the league title. 

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What did Zlatan say about LeBron James?

Ibrahimovic doesn't shy away from expressing his thoughts on issues that struck his mind. Similarly, he ended up in a war of words with NBA superstar LeBron James. The Milan forward, while speaking to Discovery+, had stated that LeBron should avoid being vocal on political issues in the USA. The Los Angeles Lakers' star did not however agree and insisted he would never shut up about things that are wrong. 

And Ibrahimovic hit back again at the music festival. He said, "Racism and politics are two different things. We athletes unite the world, politics divides the world. Everyone is welcome, it has nothing to do with where you are from, we do what we do to unite. We don’t do other things because we are not good at it, otherwise, I would be in politics. That’s my message. Athletes must be athletes, politicians must be politicians."

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Image courtesy: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Liverpool website