AFC Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings has confessed that he enjoyed his somewhat physical battle with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In only his fifth Premier League start, 23 year old former Chippenham Town defender Tyrone Mings was handed the task of man marking Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Over the course of his career Zlatan Ibrahimovic has played for Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain before making the move to the Premier League.
He has won the league title at all of those clubs, whilst at Manchester United last week, he almost single handedly won the EFL Cup at Wembley.
But he offered little against the Cherries, other than making headlines with Mings for a personal battle which lasted 78 minutes before Mings had to be substituted due to injury.
Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville refereed to the battle as something from Mixed Martial Arts company UFC.
The battle included a Judo Throw Hip Toss from Ibrahimovic, an attempted stamp from Ibrahimovic seconds before an apparent stamp from Mings to the head of Ibrahimovic, followed by a vicious elbow from Ibrahimovic on Mings.
All of which went unpunished by referee Kevin Friend.
Discussing the alleged stamp, Mings told afcb.co.uk…
‘…I jumped over another player and I’m not even looking at him, it’s an unfortunate situation that will be probably be blown up a little on social media.
‘No, obviously I didn’t mean to do it.’
On the physical nature of the game he added…
‘…It was a good battle all afternoon and certainly one that I enjoyed.
‘I think I did as well as any defender will do this year, he’s shown what he can do over his career. He’s a big, strong and physical person to play against but he also possesses the quality that can unlock you at any time.
On the alleged elbow, Ibrahimovic told Sky Sports…
‘…I jump up, I jump high, I protect myself, same time I go for the ball and he jumps into my elbow.
‘Hopefully he didn’t get injured or something because my intention was not to injure, it was the opposite. It was to protect myself and go for the ball, and unlucky he jumped into the elbow. This happens many times so hopefully he didn’t feel any injury.
‘Listen I didn’t even know he stamped on my head in that moment. I didn’t even see the replay. If it was him it was him. But that isn’t something I think about because all the defenders, they try to stop you and me as a striker I try to score goals.’
Your Say…
srdeverill wrote…
Mings stamp
Do you think he meant it?
For me the replays are inconclusive. He does have a quick look at Ibrahimovic but not as he does it.
Can see him getting a ban especially as what it led to after with the elbow (which Ibrahimovic has to be banned for). – Join the conversation here.
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