Monday, November 15, 2021 at 08:53• Yanick Vos • Last update: 09:00

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been banned on Sunday evening for a remarkable action in the match between Spain and Sweden. The striker received a yellow card, presumably because of a hard pound in the back of Spanish international César Azpilicueta. He is therefore not available for the first game of the play-offs in March and the AC Milan striker does not know whether he will still be available.

Sweden lost 1-0 to Spain and therefore finish in second place in the group. The team of national coach Janne Andersson hopes to qualify for the global final tournament via the play-offs. In the first meeting, Ibrahimovic is not allowed to play. The match sheet states that he received a yellow card against Spain, but television images do not show why he was penalized. It is suspected that the veteran was given a yellow card for a thump in the back of Azpilicueta two minutes before the end of the game.

A 2 minuti dalla fine Ibrahimovic che era entrato solo 15 minuti prima si macchia di un inutile colpo alle spalle di Azpilicueta e la scampa nel mancato intervento del Var pic.twitter.com/QD7pq7bmi1

— m (@saulniggez) Nov 15, 2021

Ibrahimovic has now been suspended for the next international match with Sweden. “It’s still a long way to the play-offs. I don’t even know if I’ll be there,” a disappointed Ibrahimovic told Swedish media on Sunday evening. “I haven’t seen any of it. It was only after the game that I saw on the match overview that Ibrahimnovic has been booked,” said Swedish international Albin Ekdal. Team manager Stefan Pettersson confirmed to Aftonbladet that Ibrahimovic has received a yellow card. “But I don’t know exactly what for.”

Ibrahimovic had to settle for a place on the bench on Sunday evening. The forty-year-old attacker came on after 73 minutes as a substitute for Alexander Isak. So it may have been Ibrahimovic’s last minutes in Sweden’s shirt. He announced his return to the national team in March this year after a long absence. A knee injury then put an end to European Championship participation.