Pep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic involved in noticeably awkward reunion after their relationship broke down at Barcelona

Ibrahimovic described Guardiola as a “spineless coward” in his autobiography.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was briefly reunited with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola ahead of AC Milan’s pre-season clash against Manchester City.

The Swede, who acts as a senior advisor to AC Milan’s ownership and management team, struggled to see eye-to-eye with Guardiola during their single season together.

In fact, as he reminisced about Barcelona’s infamous Champions League exit to Inter Milan in his 2013 autobiography I Am Zlatan, he called his former manager a “spineless coward”, amongst other terms.

“I yelled: ‘You haven’t got any balls!’ and worse than that I added: ‘You can go to hell!’ I completely lost it, and you might have expected Guardiola to say a few words in response, but he’s a spineless coward.”

Ibrahimovic added: “He just picked up the metal box, like a little caretaker, and then left, never to mention it again, not a word.”

Image credit: X/@FC_series

More than a decade on from his spell at the Camp Nou and Ibrahimovic ran into Guardiola as he was scoping out the Yankee Stadium in New York.

As you can see from the footage below, Guardiola walked over to Ibrahimovic, who engaged in a brief chat with his former boss ahead of the pre-season clash between Manchester City and AC Milan.

One fan commented on the clip, saying: “First time i’ve seen Ibra shook/visibly uncomfortable,” while another said: “Zlatan didn’t look comfortable out there. Remember him calling Pep a coward.”

A third wrote: “Yeah this wasn’t awkward at all,” and a fourth said: “Pretty awkward but respect to Pep for going to even say hi to him. Zlatan doesn’t look pleased.”

A fifth added: “Couldn’t even look at him in the eyes. All talk Zlatan.”

Ibrahimovic, who once claimed Guardiola “hid from him” in the dressing room after a game, scored 22 goals in 46 appearances for Barcelona before joining AC Milan on a permanent deal in 2011.

But his relationship with Guardiola continued to sour. Speaking in 2017, he said: “The problem wasn’t with me, it was with him [Guardiola], and he never came to terms with it. I don’t know what his problem was with me.

“First he called me every day to get me and from one day to the next, I didn’t play anymore.”