'What a f*cking joke' - Zlatan blasts Kulusevski's omission for Sweden

Janne Andersson’s decision to bench Dejan Kulusevski in Sweden’s 1-0 defeat to France left a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic unimpressed.

Juventus winger Kulusevski, who impressed on loan at Parma last season in the Serie A, found himself benched in favor of Sebastian Larsson for Sweden’s UEFA Nations League clash with France on Saturday.

Although the 35-year-old, who currently plays for Swedish club AIK, couldn’t make an impact. Therefore, Andersson brought on Kulusevski for the last 20 minutes at the Friends Arena.

But it was too little too late as France held on for a narrow 1-0 win, courtesy of a Kylian Mbappe first-half goal.

Reacting to the defeat afterwards, a furious Zlatan wrote on Twitter in response to an article in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet by posting: “What a f*cking joke.

“Further proof. Incompetent people in the wrong positions that suffocate Swedish football.”

Vilket jävla skämt.
Ytterligare ett bevis.
Inkompetenta personer på fel positioner som kväver svensk fotboll.https://t.co/I0RBYZO561

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) September 6, 2020

Even Kulusevski was ‘shocked’ by the Sweden coach’s decision to bench him on Saturday. Especially after he performed strongly during training, but accepted the decision all the same.

Questioned about leaving the 20-year-old benched in his post-match conference, Andersson responded: “In this case, I had no separate talk with Dejan, absolutely not.

“I have not talked to him myself after the game, but if he has said that, he probably thinks so. We’ll talk about that. I have not experienced him as very shocked.

“He has done well in training, just like many others. We will see if there will be more playing time on Tuesday. He has great qualities and is a great player and will grow into this eventually.

“And we’ll see, he might get to play more on Tuesday. This squad we have chosen to evaluate the situation of everyone who is at different levels.

“I think there are a number of players who should definitely not play two matches. Then you can interpret for yourself what it will be like on Tuesday.”