Bizarre Cristiano Ronaldo Nightmare Forced Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Teammate to Console Him to Sleep

There have been only a few forwards similar to Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps, Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes close. The Sweden striker has had a star-studded career, playing for some of Europe’s top teams across his longstanding career. The Swedish frontman finally hung up his boots at the age of 41 earlier this summer, making the 2022-23 season with AC Milan his last. However, Zlatan’s former Juventus teammate has now revealed a hilarious incident involving the striker and Ronaldo.

The Swedish icon played for Juventus between 2004 and 2006, where he scored 26 goals and made 20 assists in 92 games for the Old Lady. At the time, Romanian star Adrian Mutu was his teammate, following Mutu’s departure from Chelsea in dramatic fashion after testing positive for cocaine. Nevertheless, Mutu had an interesting story to tell about Zlatan and a dream about the mercurial Ronaldo.

Adrian Mutu tells a funny story about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dream of Cristiano Ronaldo

Ibrahimovic went on to win 2 Scudetto titles with Juventus after he joined the club from Ajax in 2004, but both titles were stripped after the infamous Calcipoli scandal at the time that saw Juve relegated to Serie B. But, during his short stint in Turin, a funny incident took place as Mutu has revealed.

According to a tweet on X by the handle Football__Tweet, Mutu revealed a small incident after Zlatan woke him up while they were roommates. As the tweet suggests, he said, “Zlatan’s the best. We used to sleep in the same room. One night, he woke up. Ibra told me: ‘Adi, wake up! I had a nightmare. I dreamed Ronaldo was better than me!’ He only went back to sleep after I said: ‘No, no! You are the best in the world! Calm down!’”

While the story is rather amusing, Ibrahimovic would be vindicated and go on to win 5 Serie A titles, most recently in 2021/22 with AC Milan amongst a host of 34 trophies across his glittering career. However, he did not win the UEFA Champions League.

Nevertheless, months after retiring, Ibrahimovic revealed all in an explosive interview with British TV host Piers Morgan. In the interview, he also suggested that  Ronaldo’s move to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia was a step in the wrong direction.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggests Ronaldo’s move to Al Nassr was a step backward

Speaking in conversation with Piers Morgan, Ibrahimovic stated that Cristiano Ronaldo backed off the biggest stage to go to, what he referred to as a ‘lower stage’.

As per the interview, Zlatan said, “What we are training every day for what we’re being recognized for is our talent. And that’s what you want to be remembered for. So I think certain players that reach a certain level, they have to stop at a certain stage. And that’s the big stage. You cannot go in a lower stage and finish your career in a different way.”

But slight digs aside, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo are both testaments to the fallacy of the stereotype that soccer players have to retire in their 30s. Zlatan managed to continue playing until he was 41, while Ronaldo is currently 38. But it’s certain that Ronaldo will be looking to play for longer, if not for the same duration as the retired Swedish striker.

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