Following Zlatan Ibrahimovic's announcement of his retirement from football, Joey Barton sent the striker a message of congratulations. The message's sincerity, though, is a matter of controversy.
In 2013, when playing for Marseille, the Englishman was seen on camera signalling to Ibrahimovic, who was then for Paris Saint-Germain, that the Swede had a big nose.
Years later, the former midfielder clarified the context of the gesture, saying: "Ibra didn't like it because things weren't going his way and he told me, in no uncertain terms, I think he called me a 'English p***y', which is one of the nicer things I've been called.
I then commanded him to cease fouling me and refrain from touching me so that the referee wouldn't call a foul.
And he is telling me, 'Ah, you're meant to be a strong guy, stay on your feet.
"Well, if you're fouling me, I'm not going to stay on my feet, I say.
I believe he was using another disparaging term to describe me when I started laughing, but I can't remember what it was.
I responded, "Yeah, yeah, I am. I may be a p***y, but your nose is enormous. A nose that was enormous.
When he responded, I made the gesture that was captured on tape, and it became the meme that circulates whenever I say anything about Ibra.
The 40-year-old has since appeared on Twitter to imply that everything is fine between the two. He posted a GIF of the incident with the remark, "Congratulations on a tremendous career. Thanks for your service, @Ibra_official #bignose.
Barton stopped playing in 2017, went on to manage Fleetwood Town, and is now in charge of Bristol Rovers.
Ibrahimovic, who was 41 years old and had only played four times for his current team AC Milan this season after recuperating from a catastrophic knee injury, also announced his retirement.
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