AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was targeted with ethnic slurs due to his Bosnian roots during the UEL 2020-21 clash between the Italian side and Serbian outfit Red Star Belgrade. The club have issued a statement of apology for the abuse directed towards the former Sweden international. Ibrahimovic was on the bench for the entire 90 minutes as he saw the Rossoneri play out a 2-2 draw in Belgrade. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Gets Into a Nasty War of Words With Romelu Lukaku.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t take the field against Red Star Belgrade but cameras picked up a fan yelling ethnic insults from the stands at the striker, who has roots in Bosnia. The 39-year-old was born in Sweden to a Croatian Catholic mother and a Bosnian Muslim father and the fan who abused him used a pejorative term for Bosnian Muslims, to which the AC Milan star didn’t respond.

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Red Star Belgrade in an official statement issued an apology for the actions of their fans. ‘Red Star vehemently condemns abusive chants to Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the Europa League match with AC Milan.The club did everything in its power to organise the event on a high level and we will not allow a primitive individual to stain Serbia's traditional hospitality’ the Serbian club said.

‘We will work with the authorities to identify the offender and we will also insist that he is punished to the full extent of the law. Red Star again sincerely apologises to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and we stress that the club will have zero tolerance for such outbursts in the future.’ The club added.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t play a single minute in the draw but is expected to return to the field during the weekend when AC Milan play city rivals Inter Milan. Both sides are the top two teams in Serie A with the winner taking over the top spot in the league.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 20, 2021 03:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).