In the moments after Cristiano Ronaldo's third goal against Sweden on Tuesday night, the cameras cut to a shot of Zlatan Ibrahimovic applauding. This was taken as a rare moment of the great Zlatan acknowledging the brilliant display of his opponent.
However, Ibrahimovic has claimed he was not actually applauding Ronaldo according to quotes in La Gazzetta dello Sport. From Goal.com" target="_blank">Goal.com:
"Was I applauding Ronaldo? No, I was just trying to encourage my team-mates. I clapped my hands to cheer them up and motivate them for the last few minutes. We had already gone down before. It is important not to give up until the final whistle because the unexpected can always happen."
The PSG striker also downplayed Ronaldo's hat-trick performance slightly by highlighting that Sweden had almost completely abandoned any efforts to defend.
"He's obviously a great player, but we allowed him way too much space. Nobody's as good as he is on the counterattack. This game once more showed his biggest qualities.
"Is he the best player in the world? I can only say that he scored one goal more than I did."
H/T Goal.com
