Big Conk screwed himself over by proclaiming himself some kind of superhuman. Obviously Pep decided that nobody was bigger than the team, and he proved his point by benching him.
Just sheer bitterness from Raiola, as he missed out on a megabucks pay day.
He screwed himself with some lazy play. Barcelona relied on constant movement to enforce juega de posessión. Guardiola had wanted to get rid of Eto in the same summer that he got rid of Deco and Ronaldinho and to build the team around Messi, but held off another year. The plan was to get David Villa immediately (the summer of 2009), according to Guillem Ballague. Laporta, however, had someone with a bigger profile in mind. Madrid had bought Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, and Xabi Alonso that summer to kick start the second galacticos project, and Laporta desperately wanted Ibrahimovic whom he felt would help Barca's profile, as well as be a great succcess. It wasn't a bad thought process but there's a reason presidents should delegate those decisions to a coach or director of football with more insight into the technical side of things.
Ibrahimovic was an odd buy because he didn't for the mold of a Guardiola player; he's relatively static,which disrupted their play. They put up with him for a few months afterwhich it was abundantly clear they had to shift him out wide in favor of Messi. They went on to win the league and reach the UCL semi, a disappointment for them after winning the only sextuple in football history the previous year.
After selling Ibrahimovic in the summer, they immediately won the champions league and picked up where they had left off before bringing him on board.
I don't think his ego has ever handled the fact that he was relegated in favor of Messi, or that he was shipped out at the earliest opportunity. His stint there was a woeful one, and he's had a lot of resentment towards Guardiola ever since.
As it is, he joined his good friend Mourinho a few years later in the Premier League, attempting to go h2h with their nemesis Guardiola - and expecting to win the title. But alas here we are. Ibrahmovic's European career ending unceremoniously while Mourinho can only helplessly watch as Guardiola sets record after record and runs away with the title.
Cue the meltdowns and him throwing everybody under the bus and his toys out of the pram. Ibrahimovic and Mourinho - the duo with the biggest egos in the sport - are enduring their worst nightmare as Pep is showing them up on the pitch and getting lauded while their career trajectories aren't looking good.
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