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Zlatan Ibrahimovic criticized Sweden coach Janne Andersson for initiating new Juventus signing Dejan Kulusevski on the bench in Saturday’s 1-0 UEFA Nations League loss to world champions France.
Kulusevksi came in for a 20-minute cameo, but said in a post-match interview that he was surprised he couldn’t start, and Andersson’s surprise reaction to the criticism prompted a strong response from Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s record-breaking scorer.
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Ibrahimovic expressed his frustration with a Twitter post on Sunday that read: “What a damn joke. One more test. Incompetent people in the wrong positions suffocate Swedish football.”
The post included a link to an article in the Aftonbladet newspaper that included Andersson’s post-match comments.
After scoring 62 goals in 116 games, Ibrahimovic retired from international football following Sweden’s exit from Euro 2016.
When asked if he had been given enough time to demonstrate what he could do after replacing Sebastian Larsson, Kulusevski replied: “No, no, I don’t think so.
“I was surprised. I felt very, very good in training. But unfortunately that’s how football is.”
Andersson, who led his team to the 2018 World Cup in Russia quarter-finals where they lost to England, said he was surprised by Kulusevski’s reaction.
“I have not spoken to him afterwards, but if he has said so, it is clearly his opinion,” he told reporters. “We will have to talk about it.
“I have not experienced him as very surprised. He has done well in the training session, like many others.”
The 57-year-old said Kulusevski was likely to have more playing time when Sweden host Portugal in their next Nations League game on Tuesday at Friends Arena in Stockholm.
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