Sports Burst - Zlatan's Trash Talk
Zlatan goes into full Un-American mode as defeat LA Galaxy playoff defeat puts doubts into player's MLS future
by Tim Stannard
Zlatan declares that world will forget MLS without himself playing in the league after LAFC El Trafico defeat
If a certain news network in the US of A gets wind of the comments from a soccer player - bad enough in itself - from Sweden - where do we start? - then there will be enough content for at least a week of outraged ranting from a couple of evening anchors.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was once again downright Un-American in claiming that he was bigger than one of our country's most cherished institutions - Major League Soccer.
After a playoff match between LAFC and LA Galaxy that the home side won 5-3 to end Galaxy's season, Zlatan declared that were this to be his final game for the MLS franchise then "If I don't stay then nobody will remember what MLS is."
That's not all, the Swedish striker then apparently grabbed his special parts in response from comments from fans in the crowd, who potentially wanted to discuss the merits of the universal health care system from Zlatan's home country. Nothing more than that.
Zlatan used that as an excuse from more bad behavior by insulting a fine, American sporting venue. "The stadium is too small for me. This is a walk in the park."
It's all sent Sports Burst into a tizz and contemplating a stern letter to its senator.
Any hoo. Thursday's result, which saw two goals for Barcelona-bound Carlos Vela, has LAFC taking on Seattle Sounders in next week's conference playoff final. Atlanta United defeated Philadelphia Union 2-0 in Thursday's other Un-American activity-free encounter to set up a clash with Toronto FC on the other side of the bracket.
The Sports Burst live show will be suitably outraged by this and everything else going on this weekend. Just head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET.
Reports that Mourinho has assembled team to take over Real Madrid
Real Madrid may not be playing this weekend after the postponement of El Clasico to Wednesday December 18th, but it doesn't mean that Coach Zizou is not making the headlines in Spain on Friday. His life must be so much fun sometimes.
'AS' is reporting that Jose Mourinho has already put a coaching team on standby ready to take over Real Madrid at a moment's notice. "It's a matter of 'when' not 'if" says the paper dramatically quoting a source within Mourinho's world on a return to the Santiago Bernabeu.
It's a story backed by the recent revelation from Lyon president, Jean-Michel Aulas, who recently tried to recruit Mourinho to take over his club but said that the Portuguese provoker had already chosen his next job.
'Marca' has gone in a different direction and used a poll of Madrid fans to predict Zidane's future at the club. That survey reports that only 19.4% feel that Zizou should be fired this season due to the team's performances.
However, only 51.2% felt certain that that the Frenchman would still be in charge at the end of the season.
It all gets underway live, live, live on beIN SPORTS at 3PM with Villarreal hosting Alaves.
LA Clippers ruin Golden State Warriors new home debut
El Trafico wasn't the only Californian sporting kerfuffle on Thursday night.
The Golden State Warriors took on the LA Clippers, with Steph Curry and co christening their new arena in San Francisco with a heavy 141-122 loss to the visitors, who have a 2-0 start to the NBA season. Friday's action sees the Toronto Raptors at the Boston Celtics.
Thursday's NFL action did not exactly set the world alight with excitement after the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Washington Redskins 19-9 to leave the DC franchise 1-7 for the season.
However, the sporting picture might look a little better for the city after Friday night with the third match of the World Series in Washington DC. The Nationals are holding a 2-0 lead over the Houston Astros in the seven game affair.