Zlatan Red-Carded For Slapping Opponent’s Head

When a European soccer star moves to the United States for the twilight of his career, it’s only a matter of time before he’s involved in one of two hilarious incidents: He oversells an injury or gets a red card for a stupid reason. Today, Zlatan Ibrahimović did both on the same play!

Today, he got red-carded (after video review) 40 minutes into the game against Montreal for slapping the back of Michael Petrasso’s head.

There’s a lot of greatness in this highlight video: The slap, of course, but also Petrasso and Zlatan simultaneously going to the ground with over-the-top reactions long after the fact. (Petrasso was yellow carded for stepping on Zlatan’s foot.) Additionally, the ref has to draw an imaginary TV screen with his fingers before issuing any cards for video review.

Zlatan limped off for some reason, and the Galaxy had to play the second half with just 10 men. It didn’t matter; Ola Kamara’s goal in the 75th minute gave L.A. a 1-0 win over the Impact. Happy Victoria Day, Montreal!