In his new autobiography, Ibrahimovic claims Guardiola was key to ostracising him.
“It was a childhood dream and I was walking on air” Ibrahimovic was quoted “It started well but then Messi started to talk.
“He wanted to play in the middle, not on the wing, so the system changed from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1. I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed.
“So I asked for a meeting with Guardiola – for a discussion, not an argument. I said I was being used in the wrong way and that they shouldn’t have bought me if they wanted another type of player.
“I told him what a friend had said to me – ‘you bought a Ferrari but drive it like a Fiat‘. The chat seemed to go well but then Guardiola started to freeze me out.
“I would walk into a room; he would leave. He would greet everyone by saying hello, but would ignore me.
“I had done a lot to adapt – the Barca players were like schoolboys, following the coach blindly, whereas I was used to asking ‘why?’ I like guys who run red lights, not pedantic and strict rules. So I tried to be overly nice, didn’t dare lose my temper.
“But after this I stopped trying to adapt. For example, at Barca players were banned from driving their sports cars to training. I thought this was ridiculous – it was no one’s business what car I drive – so in April, before a match with Almeria, I drove my Ferrari Enzo to work. It caused a scene.”
After a 4-1 win against Villarreal during which the former Juventus and Ajax forward only played five minutes.
“Pep was staring at me and I lost it. I thought ‘there is my enemy, scratching his bald head’. I yelled to him: ‘You have no balls!’ And probably worse things than that.
“I added: ‘You are s****ing yourself because of (then-Internazionale manager Jose Mourinho, whose side beat Barca in the Champions League). You can go to hell!’ I was completely mad.
“I threw a box full of training gear across the room, it crashed to the floor and Pep said nothing, just put stuff back in the box.
“I’m not violent, but if I were Guardiola I would have been frightened.”