Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not play in the MLS All-Star Game last week. As a consequence, Major League Soccer suspended its biggest star for the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 loss to the lowly Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Of course, Zlatan could not stay quiet about this suspension. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, the hulking Swede said “no comment” while also making quite a comment.
“I think it is ridiculous, but yeah, no comments,” Ibrahimovic told reporters. “They do whatever they want. I come from a different world; I come from the real world.”
Wait, what? Let’s rewind here a bit.
If we’re to believe Zlatan, he is the one who comes from the real world but MLS comes from a different world? How is this possible? We all assumed Zlatan was the otherworldly one and MLS was just a mundane league trying to survive in a crowded American sports market. Can a man who can do this really be from the real world?
Sorry, please continue Lord Ibrahimovic.
“I’m sorry for my teammates only that I could not help them in the game,” Ibrahimovic said. “People are interested in different things. They lose on it and for me it doesn’t matter.”
Back to the real world, Zlatan is absolutely right when it comes to Major League Soccer’s silly All-Star rule. MLS loses when Ibra doesn’t play — the whole world loses when he doesn’t play. But Zlatan takes it in stride because, well, he’s Zlatan.
The MLS rule in question states any player who opts to not participate in the All-Star Game must sit out his club’s next league match as punishment, an attempt to discourage players from skipping the event. The 36-year-old Ibrahimovic didn’t give any fucks after playing three games in nine days and thus skipped the trip to Atlanta to face Juventus in the All-Star Game. So MLS gave him a full two weeks off.
MLS should reconsider its All-Star rule because there are too many matches going on at once at this point in the season. If MLS were to create an entire All-Star weekend, this rule would be more acceptable, but with a mid-week All-Star Game and league matches on the weekend before and after, the schedule becomes too crowded and it's no wonder players, especially older ones, want to sit out.
Instead of joining his team in Colorado, Zlatan stuck around in L.A. and took in UFC 227 at the Staples Center on Saturday.
Ibrahimovic will be available for the Galaxy’s match against Minnesota United on Saturday. Just his luck, he’ll be able to play against Colorado on Tuesday, should Sigi Schmid so desire.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is currently second in the MLS Golden Boot race, if you can even call it a race. Josef Martinez is blowing the competition away with 26 goals in 24 appearances so far for Atlanta United.
The Galaxy’s star man has 15 goals in 17 appearances, just ahead of century man Bradley Wright-Phillips and Gyasi Zardes.
A story more mysterious than Zlatan’s otherworldly origins is how Zardes has managed to find the net 13 times this season.
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