Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku have both received one-match bans following their heated confrontation in the Milan derby on Tuesday.
Both former teammates at Manchester United were booked by referee Paolo Valeri after clashing towards the end of the first-half – and both are now banned for their next respective Coppa Italia clash.
Inter Milan forward Lukaku was already on a yellow card so will miss Inter’s semi-final first leg against Juventus next week, while Milan’s Ibrahimovic is also banned for one-game after picking up a second yellow card during the game, though the suspension is just for Coppa Italia games and so will come into force next season.
However, the Italian Football Federation can reportedly still open an investigation to assess any possible discrimination, as they are yet to receive the referee’s report on the incident.
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The two strikers got into it during the dying moments of the first half at the San Siro, in a highly-charged Milan derby which saw Inter come out on top 2-1 in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
Lukaku and Ibrahimovic were involved in a verbal joust before they bumped heads having not seen eye-to-eye, which resulted in both being booked by referee Valeri.
As both were booked and pulled apart, Ibrahimovic can be heard yelling at Lukaku: ‘Go do your voodoo s***, you little donkey.’
After some users online interpreted Ibrahimovic’s ‘voodoo’ insult as a racist slur, he tweeted: ‘In ZLATAN’s world there is no place for RACISM. We are all the same race – we are all equal!!’
However, the Swede could not resist a new jibe over their ongoing feud as to who is the king of Milan, adding: ‘We are all PLAYERS some better than others.’
The tension was palpable upon the half-time whistle with a livid Lukaku trying to chase Ibrahimovic down the tunnel – appearing to insinuate that the 39-year-old had made a comment about his mother.
The 27-year-old could be heard telling the AC Milan striker ‘f*** you and your wife, you little b****’ and ‘you want to speak about my mother!?’ as his Inter team-mates had to hold him back.
After the interval, tempers had calmed down but Ibrahimovic found himself in trouble just 13 minutes after the restart when he was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The veteran Swede was shown his second yellow card of the match for a trip on Inter defender Aleksandar Kolarov – in an incident that changed the whole game.
Antonio Conte’s men bombarded the Milan goal but could not find a winner until substitute Christian Eriksen stepped up with a stoppage-time free kick to book his side a semi-final clash, and provide Lukaku with the last laugh in the process.
