Black-belt Zlat gets a let-off

Michael Oliver stated in his match report that he saw the incident at Goodison Park.

But the Swedish superstar, who is a black belt in the Korean martial art taekwondo, risked adding insult to injury by bragging yesterday that if he wanted to lay someone out with a kick to the head he could easily do so. He said: “They played hard and I heard one of the commentators say I kicked someone in the head on purpose.

“It was a 50-50 duel. He pulled me down and I tried to avoid touching him.

“Trust me, if I want to kick someone in the head, I know how to kick someone in the head and make him fall asleep. That is the only thing I have to say.” Ibrahimovic was not even booked by Oliver and Sky Sports pundit and United legend Gary Neville felt the Swede was very lucky.

“It’s naughty, very naughty,” he said. “He’s fortunate to get away with that.”

Coleman, who was forced off by his injury, said: “I couldn’t stand up straight and I couldn’t run really.”