Zlatan Ibrahimovic faces four-match ban for rant

The Paris Saint-Germain star’s rant about France didn’t go over too well with the country’s football governing body.

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Paris Saint-Germain striker and Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic is facing a four-match suspension for a televised rant criticizing French referees and the country itself, according to a report from Yahoo Sports.

The ban stems from an incident on March 15 against Bordeaux, when Ibrahimovic was seen verbally attacking a referee following a 3-2 loss in which he scored both PSG goals. Ibrahimovic, who doesn’t exactly lend himself towards avoiding controversy, went on a televised tirade afterwords.

"“In 15 years, I have never seen such a referee. In this s*** country, this country does not deserve PSG. We are too good for this country.”"

Four games seems a little harsh, but that’s still a pretty stupid thing for Ibrahimovic to say. Ibrahimovic has since apologized for the comments following an uproar.

PSG is in pursuit of an unprecedented domestic treble and remains alive in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Ibrahimovic’s suspension won’t take place until Monday, so he will be allowed to play in Saturday’s League Cup final against Basita, helping the team’s chances of winning that treble.

That means all four matches of Ibrahimovic’s ban will come in Ligue 1 competition. He will miss contests against Nice, Lille, Metz and Nantes.

PSG will sorely miss Ibrahimovic during his ban, as he has been in top form. Ibrahimovic scored a hat trick in a French Cup Semifinal win the day before the ban was announced and his 17 goals ranks third in Ligue 1.

Still, the club should have enough to survive the four matches and hold on to first place, at least for now.

Both Nice (13th place) and Metz (19th place) figure to offer little resistance to PSG at home. Lille and Nantes are more mid-table and will present more of a challenge, but PSG still has an overwhelming talent advantage, even without Ibrahimovic.

Even so, Lyon trails PSG by one point for first place and any little slip up could make a huge difference in the title race. PSG will be counting heavily on Edinson Cavani to provide some firepower and creativity while Ibrahimovic is out.

Of more concern is that Ibrahimovic will be banned from the first leg of PSG Champions League tie against Barcelona next Wednesday, due to a rather unfair sending off March 11 against Chelsea. Ibrahimovic can return for the second leg, but it may too late for PSG by then.

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