Thierry Henry loses his cool as Zlatan Ibrahimovic strongly criticizes Landon Donovan, calling him ‘ignorant.’
Thierry Henry had a priceless reaction when Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired back at Landon Donovan after France’s win over Senegal.
The 2018 champions started strong in Group I, beating Senegal 3-1, thanks to Kylian Mbappe scoring twice and Bradley Barcola adding another goal for Didier Deschamps’ team.
Surprisingly, former USA captain Landon Donovan called France’s first-half play “arrogant” and “casual.” This didn’t sit well with French legend Henry, who quickly dismissed Donovan’s comment.
While working as a FOX Sports analyst, Henry said, “I’m going to skip that one. I just don’t get it. So, because you’re not 1-0, 2-0, or 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes, people say that? Let’s focus on the game. Everyone knew Senegal is a tough team.”
Later, former US player Alexi Lalas brought up Donovan’s words again. But after repeating them, he actually praised France for their stunning second-half comeback. Lalas said, “If that’s arrogance, it’s because they can back it up. The patience they showed after a slow first half and then how they turned it around—it was special.”
Before host Rebecca Lowe could respond, Zlatan Ibrahimovic jumped in and shut down Donovan’s take with a simple line: “It’s not arrogance, it’s confidence. Ignorant people say arrogance, smart people say confidence.”
Ibrahimovic’s mic-drop moment left Henry wide-eyed and impressed.
The back-and-forth between the three has been a fun part of Fox’s coverage, with Zlatan often stealing the spotlight. He even took a lie detector test hosted by James Corden, answering tough questions on many topics.
In that fun segment, Zlatan said four of himself would be better than the current Fox pundits and claimed he was a better player than Henry. He also admitted he doesn’t respect every opinion on the panel.
When Rebecca Lowe asked him to explain, Ibrahimovic complimented two of the analysts but wasn’t so kind to Lalas: “Rebecca, you look great. Thierry, you look sharp. Alexi… well, we can discuss.”
Zlatan assured everyone it was “all love,” though he stumbled a bit going into the commercial break, earning a friendly pat on the back from Lalas.
Lalas is known for being outspoken. Just days earlier, he shocked the panel by calling James Corden a “full kit w*****” live on air—a phrase you definitely wouldn’t hear on British TV!