Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic accused Chelsea’s players of acting like “babies” after he was sent off during his side’s triumphant draw at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.
Ibrahimovic was shown a straight red card by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers in the 32nd minute of Wednesday’s game following a 50-50 challenge with Oscar, despite the fact that both players had seemed equally committed to the tackle.
Kuipers was surrounded by nine Chelsea players in the immediate aftermath of the incident and Ibrahimovic expressed irritation with their behaviour.
“I don’t know if I have to get angry or start to laugh,” he told reporters at Stamford Bridge. “For me, when I saw the red card I was like, ‘The guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.’
“That is not the worst. The worst is when I got the red card, all the Chelsea players come around. It felt like I had a lot of babies around me.”
But Chelsea captain John Terry defended his team-mates’ behaviour and claimed that it was PSG’s players who were trying to put pressure on the referee.
“Once they’re charging the ref, the only thing we can do is respond,” Terry said. “You can’t as a group of players let them surround the ref, trying to get our players booked.
“For me, if I have to run 20, 30 yards, it doesn’t look great, but when you’re standing back and seeing five or six of their players surrounding the ref, for me I think I support my team-mates.
“And once I go, four or five go with me. It doesn’t look good at all, but that’s part of the game. We’ll match it if people want to mix it. That’s part of our game as well.
“You have to stick up for your team-mates. Every other side is as bad as each other. It’s part of the game.”
Despite Ibrahimovic’s dismissal, PSG twice came from behind to force a 2-2 extra-time draw that took the French champions into the quarter-finals on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate draw.
“It was an amazing performance because we were playing with one less (player),” Ibrahimovic added.
“They played with big hearts. It’s not easy to play with 10 guys, especially against a team like Chelsea. We showed quality and big heart.”
PSG coach Laurent Blanc coach suggested after the game that his club would ask European governing body UEFA to review Ibrahimovic’s dismissal.