Ibrahimovic: 'Sweden committed suicide against Mbappe'

Zlatan Ibrahimovic criticized the Swedish defense after their defeat to France, even as Kylian Mbappe scored a brace and set a new goalscoring record in World Cup knockout rounds.

Mbappe scored a brace against Sweden. Photo: Reuters .

In the early hours of July 1st, Zlatan Ibrahimovic couldn't hide his disappointment after witnessing Sweden allow Kylian Mbappe to comfortably score in their defeat to France in the Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup. The Swedish football legend believes his team's biggest mistake was giving too much space to one of the world's most dangerous strikers.

"How can you give Kylian Mbappe so much space? That's suicide in football," Ibrahimovic commented.

According to the 43-year-old former striker, every spectator in the stadium knew Mbappe was France's biggest threat, yet the Swedish defense still allowed the Real Madrid star to receive the ball in a favorable position. Ibrahimovic emphasized that even a moment of hesitation against Mbappe could have caused the entire match to collapse.

Mbappe responded with a world-class performance, scoring a brace. These two goals helped the French captain increase his tally to 10 goals in the World Cup knockout rounds, officially surpassing Ronaldo Nazario to lead the list of top scorers in the knockout stage.

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The 27-year-old star continues to surpass many other legends. Pele once had 7 goals in the knockout rounds, while Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane both stopped at 5. In addition, Mbappe still holds the record for the most goals scored in World Cup finals with 4 goals.

Considering the entire history of the World Cup, Mbappe currently has 18 goals across three tournaments and is just one goal short of Messi's record. If he continues to maintain this form, he could very well become the greatest goalscorer in the tournament's history.

For the French team, the victory against Sweden propelled them into the round of 16, where their opponent will be Paraguay, who just caused a shock by eliminating Germany on penalties.

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Source: https://znews.vn/ibrahimovic-thuy-dien-tu-sat-truoc-mbappe-post1665090.html