As part of a long interview with GQ, former Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has recalled getting his revenge on former Inter defender Marco Materazzi for a challenge he put in on him years prior.
“I was at Juve and we played against Inter. Materazzi went into a challenge like an assassin and hurt me. He was a tough football player and that’s ok,” he began.
“There is ways to go about being tough on the pitch though. One way is going out to hurt people. Paolo Maldini was a tough player but he had different motivations. After the foul I had to leave the pitch for a moment and Capello said, ‘I’ll substitute you’. I said, ‘no, I’ll go on.’
“I wanted to return to the pitch to get my revenge on Matrix. If someone does that too me, I won’t forget about it. But after two minutes, I was in too much pain to go on. I could not play. Then I moved to Inter, Barcelona and then to Milan.
“In the first game, the 2010-11 Milan derby, everyone was against me and this motivated me. I won a penalty, and who fouled me? Materazzi. 1-0 Milan.”
He concluded: “In the second half, Matrix was coming at me and I hit him with a Taekwondo move, I sent him to the hospital. Stankovic asked me; ‘Why did you do that?’ And I replied to him: ‘I have been waiting for this moment for four years. That’s why.’ What goes around comes around.”
