AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic cannot receive a retrospective ban for his involvement in last night’s altercation with Romelu Lukaku, according to a leading Italian broadcaster.
The veteran Swedish striker appeared to headbutt the Inter forward during a dramatic exchange near the end of the first half at San Siro, before making a reference to Lukaku’s mother which infuriated the Belgian international.
As per Sport Mediaset, Ibrahimovic cannot be banned for the headbutt because referee Paolo Valeri saw the incident and made a decision on the matter at the time, opting to book both Ibrahimovic and Lukaku for their actions.
Had Valeri missed the incident it could have been a different story, but retrospective bans can only be handed out for violent gestures or blasphemous expressions which are missed by referees during a match.
Ibrahimovic took to social media this afternoon to deny claims he had racially abused Lukaku during their spat, after it emerged he had said to the 27-year-old: ‘Go do your voodoo s***’.
The AC Milan forward was seemingly making a reference to comments made about Lukaku by Everton owner Farshad Moshiri in January 2018, when he claimed Lukaku had rejected a contract offer from the Toffees because his mother had heard a ‘voodoo message’ telling her son to sign for Chelsea.
“In Zlatan’s world there is no place for racism,” the 39-year-old said on Twitter.
Inter won the match on Tuesday 2-1 thanks to goals from Lukaku and Christian Eriksen, who scored from a free-kick deep into injury time at the Meazza.
