Zlatan Ibrahimovic was severely critical of one England star following their recent match against Norway.
The England player struggled badly in the first 45 minutes, and it was no surprise when they were replaced at the interval. The player also received a series of penalties, including being caught needlessly offside and penalised for a handball offence.
Despite the player's struggles, England controlled the early stages of the match only for the momentum to shift immediately after the first-half hydration break. This was when Andreas Schjelderup's outrageous opener opened the scoring, but England found their way back into the contest before the break.
Norway argued that the goal should have been ruled out after the ball hit one of the stadium's wires, but the match officials allowed the goal to stand. Ibrahimovic pointedly claimed that the inanimate object had more of an impact on proceedings than the England player.
He stated, 'It [the hydration break] changed a little bit because Jude Bellingham has been the most active player for England.' However, Ibrahimovic also claimed that the player was 'playing with one player less' because of their teammate's poor performance. He added that every time the player received the ball, they made the wrong decision, and that they were 'walking on the pitch.'
Ibrahimovic further criticised the player, saying, 'If I'm Tuchel, I change him because he's done nothing this first 45.' He also suggested that the player's lack of performance was not helped by the fact that they had not started every game. On the match officials failing to spot the offence that should have seen Bellingham's fifth goal of the tournament ruled out, Ibrahimovic added, 'If it touched the cable, it touched the cable. But if it touched the cable the cable had a better performance than [player], for sure.'
