There is no place for racism in Zlatan's world: Ibrahimovic on his spat with Lukaku

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has defended himself against accusations he aimed racist comments at Inter's Romelu Lukaku during the Coppa Italia quarter-final on Tuesday, saying there is no place for racism in "Zlatan's world".

Ibrahimovic and Lukaku, who played together at Manchester United, exchanged words at the end of the first half before the pair had to be restrained as the players left the pitch for the interval.

Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimović clearly disagreeing on something tonight. Considering Ibrahimovic ended up being sent off and Lukaku has just scored the equaliser, I think it’s clear who has came out of this one better! pic.twitter.com/gslFCdkkW0 — TheMightyBlues (@MightyBluesYT) January 26, 2021

The referee cautioned the duo before giving Ibrahimovic another yellow card and a red after the restart for a foul on Aleksandar Kolarov. AC Milan went on to lose 2-1.

The BBC reported that a pitchside microphone had picked up Ibrahimovic saying "go do your voodoo" to Lukaku, an apparent reference to 2018 comments from Everton owner Farhad Moshiri that the Belgian turned down an offer to stay in Merseyside on the advice of a "voodoo message."

However, Ibrahimovic said on Twitter: "In Zlatan's world there is no place for racism. We are all the same race - we are all equal. We're all players some better then others." 

In ZLATAN’s world there is no place for RACISM.
We are all the same race - we are all equal !!
We are all PLAYERS some better then others.https://t.co/DhguHUOFte — Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) January 27, 2021

Sky Sports reported that the Italian Football Federation is likely to make a decision on the matter on Friday. 

Zlatan... racist?  He loves me too much so he's the last person I'd think of as racist! Come on, don't joke with that one!  — Paul Pogba (@paulpogba) January 27, 2021

Meanwhile, Paul Pogba, both Zlatan and Lukaku's former United teammate, extended his support to the Swedish international and said "he's the last person I'd think of as racist."