Don't expect Nedum Onuoha to swap jerseys with Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the LA Galaxy face Real Salt Lake in September.
The RSL defender and the Galaxy attacker clashed multiple times during Sunday night's match at Dignity Health Sports Park, and on Monday evening, Onuoha sounded off on the episode during an interview with local Salt Lake City radio station Love Sport Radio. He detailed why he refused to accept an apology from Ibrahimovic, repeating his claim that Ibrahimovic threatened "I'm going to do you, just you wait."
"These are words I've probably heard twice or three times in all my career, usually by people who are complete thugs," Onuoha said. "It's one thing to be competitive but it's another thing to be threatening harm against another professional. So I was playing with that over my head, thinking every time I came close to him 'Is this going to be the time?' That's not the way you're supposed to play the game."
After the match, in which the Galaxy won 2-1, Ibrahimovic went to RSL's locker room to apologize. Onuoha was having none of it.
"Never in all my games has an opponent walked into the dressing room five minutes after a game has finished," Onuoha said. "He's saying 'Have you calmed down now, big man? Have you calmed down?' It's a real surreal moment. I was thinking 'Why is one of their team here?' And I said 'No, I've not calmed. If you think it's alright to say the stuff that you said on the field there, then you're wrong,' and then I can't say what I said on the radio, but I told him to get lost."
The former QPR man was also frustrated that Ibrahimovic eventually scored the game-winning goal despite being held in check much of the game.
"[Forwards] don't have to play well [to get the last word]," Onuoha said. "And this was against a guy who has had the last word 500 times before, which is really frustrating. Because if he didn't score the goal, he would have been seen as a laughing stock because he had such a bad game. But that's the way football works."
