Zlatan Ibrahimovic 'hated' his own teammate and threatened to break his legs

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be remembered as one of the most mercurial footballers to have ever played and his career was filled with memorable clashes.

Whether it’s referring to himself as ‘god’, ‘the lion’, ‘immortal’ or by scoring some of the best goals in football history, Ibrahimovic never found it difficult to dominate the backpages.

He will be remembered as one of the greatest forwards of his generation, tasting success at almost every club he graced but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

His larger than life personality was always going to cause friction at some point, none more so than with former Ajax teammate Rafael van der Vaart.

After winning the Champions League in 1995, the Dutch side were assembling another star-studded squad featuring some household names such as Wesley Sneijder, Ryan Babel and Nigel de Jong with Ronald Koeman in the dugout.

Ibrahimovic, a star arrival from Malmo in 2001, quickly became the team’s talisman but did not see eye-to-eye with his new captain Van der Vaart.

Rafael van der Vaart and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Getty)

“At that time we were both young and I was the best player in Ajax. He came to the club and believed that he was the best player at Ajax,” Van der Vaart told Football.ua.

“Back then he did not act like he does now and I think he was a bit jealous.

“I did not have really big problems with him. It was just two egos converging in one place. I think I was a bigger problem for him than he was for me.”

Despite their differences, the pair played 68 times together, winning the league title twice as well as the KNVB Cup.

Four years after Ibrahimovic’s arrival in Holland, he faced Van der Vaart on an opposing team during a friendly between Sweden and Ajax. Van der Vaart departed after just seven minutes after being injured by an Ibrahimovic tackle.

Van der Vaart later quoted the striker saying: “I don’t like you, I don’t like you as a captain.

“I didn’t injure you on purpose and you know it… If you accuse me again, I’ll break both your legs and this time it’ll be on purpose.”

Van der Vaart further explained the incident in an interview with talkSPORT stating: “[Ibrahimovic] was an a***hole. We had big fights. He was massive. Not "fight" fights but we couldn't get along. He was really arrogant in my point of view, I had a big ego, we were both young.

“We had to play together - that was manageable - but there came a point where we had a national game against Sweden and he kicked me on the ankle. It was really bad.

“After the game I went mad on the press, I said he did it on purpose. When I came into the dressing room I thought, "oh s***, don't say that", so I called him in person and said, "I'm sorry I said that in the press" and then it was totally okay.

“Next day in training, we had a big [meeting] with the whole team and I thought it was okay and then he went totally on me, screaming, and I screamed back. Some parts of the team chose him and some parts my side.

“Two days later he left for Juventus because I had to leave or him and that's why he went to Juventus. It was because he said, "I don't want to play with him any more", and I said the same. I was lucky I could stay at my dream club.”

Van der Vaart stayed put in Amsterdam before leaving for Hamburg one year later.

Reflecting on their rivalry, the former Spurs midfielder confirmed Ibrahimovic did make the threat but admitted the two would have no issues if they bumped into each other on the street.

He told FourFourTwo: “Yes, he did say that, but Zlatan said it to everyone.

“It’s also true that around that time things just weren’t working between the two of us, but I would rather be in a team with people who are honest, like him, even if it means there are a few arguments. But there wasn’t a specific moment we fell out – we generally didn’t get along well.”