Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku's furious war of words in 2021 Milan derby | OneFootball

Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were involved in one of the fiercest moments that the Derby della Madonnina has seen in recent years when they went toe-to-toe in January 2021.

Despite having shared a dressing room together at Manchester United, there was clearly no love lost between the pair when tensions boiled over at the San Siro during a Coppa Italia quarter-final.

Ibrahimovic had fired the Rossoneri into the lead in the 31st minute, before things got out of hand before half-time with the Swede clearly winding up his opposite number nine.

When Zlatan and Lukaku lost it with each other

Truly tense scenes quickly followed with Ibrahimovic and Lukaku squaring up to one another, leading to both sets of teammates having to separate the two star strikers from each other.

The situation was made all the more remarkable by the fact that there wasn't a boisterous crowd stuffed into the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza as there would ordinarily be for a Milan derby.

Rather, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans watching on at home were given extraordinary insight into a true clash of the titans with Ibrahimovic and Lukaku's war of words largely made audible.

Video: Zlatan and Lukaku go toe-to-toe in Milan derby

What did Zlatan and Lukaku say to each other?

And with Italian Football TV trawling through the footage and listening very carefully to what was said between the Inter and Milan stars, a transcript of what was actually said started to take shape.

By their estimations, the heated conversation between Lukaku and Ibrahimovic - one of the most head-turning cases of on-pitch drama that we've seen in a long time - went as follows:

Ibrahimovic: “You are a donkey”

Lukaku: “Let’s go inside you b****, we’re gonna see”

Ibrahimovic: “Call your mother, do your voodoo s***”

Lukaku: “F*** you & your wife you little b****”

Lukaku can then be heard saying as the players walked towards the tunnel for half-time: “You want to speak about my mother you son of a b****? I’ll shoot you in your head”.

What did the 'voodoo' comment mean?

Yup, it's fair to say that the pair were incensed with one another, and it was Ibrahimovic's specific reference to matters of 'voodoo' that proved particularly inflammatory from Lukaku's perspective.

The quip was believed to have referenced comments made by Everton’s major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, in 2018 claiming that Lukaku had turned down a new contract at Goodison Park because a voodoo message had told him to join Chelsea.

The Guardian quotes Moshiri as saying: "He said he was on a pilgrimage in Africa or somewhere and he had a voodoo and he got the message that he needs to go to Chelsea."

A representative for the player responded to the comments at the time by telling BBC Sport: "Romelu's decision had nothing to do with voodoo."

Ibrahimovic explains his side of the story

Nevertheless, the voodoo comment seemed to infuriate Lukaku during his verbal spat with Ibrahimovic, who later revealed himself that he deliberately targeted the topic as a 'sweep spot'.

According to the Daily Mail, Ibrahimovic was quoted by Football Italia as explaining: "He first argued with [Alessio] Romagnoli, then with [Alexis] Saelemaekers.

"I intervened to defend my teammates and Lukaku attacked me on a personal level. I was shocked. We even were teammates at Manchester United.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic was born in which city?

Stockholm Gothenburg Helsingborg Malmo

"Lukaku has a great ego, he thinks he's a champion and he's really strong. But I grew up in the Malmo ghetto, and when someone comes under me with his head down, I put him in his place.

"So, I hit him in his sweet spot: his Mum's rituals. And he lost control.

"Although, I still have a terrible doubt… we lost that derby. I was sent off. Then I got injured. A lot of bad things happened. You'll see that the Lukaku rituals really got me?

"I asked my believing friends to pray for me. I have to settle the bill with him too. I hope to meet him soon. On the street? No, these are things that must be resolved on the pitch. I don't hate anyone, much less Lukaku."

What a crazy story.

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