Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been banned for four matches

PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been banned for four matches after his comments appeared to insult French football.

The 33-year-old striker seemed to be extremely upset with the referee’s poor performance when Paris St Germain played against Bordeaux recently. He branded France as a country not worthy of playing top-level football by using derogatory terms. This cost a huge uproar in France and the disciplinary committee of the league has found the player guilty of trying to tarnish the reputation of the league. He has been given a four match ban, which will be a major blow to PSG’s hopes of retaining the league title.

The Swedish striker is one of the important players at the club. In his absence, Laurent Blanc will have to utilise Edinson Cavani as the striker but the Uruguayan has not scored the goals that have been required to keep PSG at the top of the table. Despite the season coming to a close with only a couple of weekends remaining, the French league is extremely close when it comes to the battle for the title. The top three teams are separated by only four points with PSG having recently taken control of the table with a narrow one-point advantage over Lyon.

“In 15 years, I have never seen such a referee. In this s**t country, this country does not deserve PSG. We are too good for this country,” said Ibrahimovic after the 3-2 defeat against Bordeaux. Since then, the team has gone on a run of three straight victories in the league. Their focus on the league is likely to be halted by the upcoming Champions League encounter against Barcelona. Ibrahimovic will be a major miss since the striker has come up with six goals in the last three matches and it has helped the club register wins over Lorient and Saint Etienne.