Ibrahimovic on World Cup 2026 Final Scuffle: Paredes Was Lucky I Wasn't on the Pitch
Zlatan Ibrahimovic shared his thoughts on the altercation in the World Cup 2026 final, calling Leandro Paredes' behavior unprofessional.
Former Swedish national team player Zlatan Ibrahimovic expressed his opinion on the scuffle that occurred in the World Cup 2026 final and related incidents. Notably, in the decisive match, Argentina lost to Spain 0:1. A brawl involving Leandro Paredes broke out on the field at the end of the match.
After the final, Argentine midfielder Paredes first grabbed Spanish defender Eric Garcia's neck and made an aggressive move towards him. Then, he also used physical force against midfielder Gavi, who was trying to defend his teammate. This situation escalated the conflict between players from both teams.
"Paredes can consider himself lucky that there was no player like me on the field. If I were there, I would have hit him with my head and received a red card. This is absolutely unprofessional behavior on his part," Ibrahimovic emphasized.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the reaction of the Spanish players: "I don't understand what the Spanish players were doing. Were they just standing and watching another player hit their teammate?" - said Zlatan on Fox Sports.
Recall that the Spanish national team became world champions for the second time in their history. Argentina was content with silver medals. The South American representative has been world champion three times to date.