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Ibrahimovic blames coach for Barça exit

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has blamed Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola for his premature exit from club.

Ibrahimovic blames coach for Barça exit

The 28-year-old signed for AC Milan over the weekend on an initial one-year loan with a pre-arranged €24 million (227.05 million kronor, $30.46 million) permanent deal arranged for the end of the season.

He had spent just one year in Spain following a trade worth more than €50 million that sent Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o to Inter Milan.

Ibrahimovic said there was just one man to blame.

“I only had problems with one person [Guardiola],” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday. “I got on great with my teammates and I want to take this opportunity to say that I had a great relationship with both the club and the fans.”

Ibrahimovic, who was due to undergo a medical on Monday, said it was like returning home coming back to the country where he spent five years with Milan’s arch rivals Juventus and Inter.

“You live well in Barcelona, but after Sweden, Italy is my adopted country,” he added. “In five years in Italy, myself and my family felt at home.”

Now comes the real business of trying to propel Milan back to the Serie A summit and ending Inter’s five-year domination of the scudetto.

“I’ve come back to Italy to win as much as possible and score even more goals than in the past,” said Ibrahimovic, Serie A’s top goalscorer from 2008 to 2009. “I feel incredibly excited and my strength is that I always look for new goals.”

He added, “In the next four years [the length of Ibrahimovic’s contract], this team can win everything. With Dinho [Brazil’s Ronaldinho] and Pato, we’re amongst the best [attacks] in Europe and let’s not forget [Marco] Borriello and [Filippo] Inzaghi.”

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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