Zlatan facing the elbow from Chelsea cup clash
MANCHESTER United’s top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tyrone Mings of Bournemouth are facing three-match bans after their personal battle at Old Trafford turned ugly.
Mings appeared to stamp on Ibrahimovic’s head as he lay on the floor at the end of the first half.
From a corner moments later, United’s Swedish star caught his opponent on the side of the head with his elbow, leaving him groggy and requiring treatment for several minutes. Neither was punished by referee Kevin Friend for their unsavoury behaviour in a 1-1 draw that saw Ibrahimovic miss a penalty but the Football Association are likely to review video evidence and bring charges.
Ibrahimovic could miss next Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea and league games with West Brom and Middlesbrough
as a result. United captain Wayne Rooney said: ‘I don’t think the referee saw him try to stamp on Zlatan’s head. I was right there.
‘There’s no place for that and I’m sure the FA will look at it and there will be a punishment.’
Mourinho knows it will be politically impossible for Mings to be punished without his talisman also being brought to book and said: ‘Zlatan is a big man like I am. We’ve spent too many years in football. We are not the kind of generation that goes to the media and cries about what happens like “Oh, that guy has pushed me”. What happened, happened. The game is over and what matters is the result.’
Not surprisingly, the protagonists proclaimed their innocence.
Mings said about the alleged stamp: ‘I would never do that. It’s not in my game. Hard and fair is how I tackle, but off the ball is not part of my game.
‘Ibrahimovic is who he is. There was a battle and there was an elbow — I didn’t see it but I felt it. He’s a physical guy and it was a good battle.’
Zlatan responded: ‘You have the TV, you can see the images. I jump up and jump high and he jumps into my elbow.
‘Listen, what happens on the field stays on the field. I’m not someone who attacks someone off the field. I went for the ball and it was unlucky he jumped into my elbow. But it was nothing on purpose. I hope he’s not injured. I didn’t know about the stamping on the head; if it was him it was him.’ The sense of farce increased when Mr Friend gave a second yellow card to Bournemouth’s Andrew Surman for the relatively minor offence of gently pushing Ibrahimovic in the aftermath.
It took a couple of minutes and a message through his headphones for Mr Friend to realise he had booked Surman earlier and had to send him off.
On television, pundit Jamie Carragher felt both Mings and Ibrahimovic should have been given red cards. ‘The one from Mings is horrific,’ he said. ‘And he deserves a smack for that.
It’s disgraceful. Stamping on someone’s head on the floor — it’s a disgrace.
‘And why is he [the ref] talking to Ibrahimovic after the elbow? He’s either seen it and bottled it or he hasn’t seen it. What was he talking about? I think he’s panicked, bottled it, and frozen.’
Bournemouth’s assistant manager Jason Tindall was sent to the stands at halftime for protesting Surman’s dismissal.