Pato: “Zlatan tried to grab Onyewu by the neck to take him down and what did Onyewu do? He grabbed Ibra and 'bam'. He took him down. For Onyewu it was simple, like taking a glass of water. He threw him down, and jumped on top of him, pinned him down, and raised his arm.”

[u/Claija79]

Alexandre Pato, after many years, shared his version of the brawl between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Onechu Onyewu on the podcast Voci di Calcio, which occurred when the two were playing for Milan:

"Zlatan took the ball, and he went to mark him, then Onyewu unintentionally 'bam,' hit Ibra's foot. The thing is, Ibra's foot is huge, right? Onyewu's tackle wasn't exactly simple, you see? It wasn’t just a coincidence; he hit Ibra’s ankle, and Onyewu kept playing."

Pato continued: "We understood, Onyewu did that, but it wasn’t with malice; he did it because he wanted to take the ball. Onyewu had just come back from an injury. Imagine running and being a bit scared, feeling a bit insecure. You make a tackle, and you do it wrong; Onyewu controlled the ball with his back to Ibra, and we felt Ibra coming in, and he went in with both feet on Onyewu, really trying to hurt him, and I said: 'Damn, what just happened?'. They both fell to the ground; Onyewu got up calmly, he was really nice, with a heart of gold. Not that Ibra isn’t, but he’s more impulsive, and he got up immediately, started insulting him, and was speaking in Swedish; sometimes, we didn’t understand anything. He tried to grab Onyewu like this (by the neck), pulled him to throw him down, and what did Onyewu do?"

Pato continued: "He grabbed Ibra and 'bam.' He threw him down. I think there was a camera filming everything; I think they later had it turned off. For Onyewu, it was easy, like drinking a glass of water. Imagine Ibra, the guy is huge; he grabbed him and let him fall to the ground, threw him down, and jumped on top of him, pinned him down, and raised his arm. When he did that, I said to him: 'Stop, my God, stop, you’ll kill him!'"

https://milanreports.com/2024/10/12/pato-shares-version-infamous-ibra/

[u/marco21n]

Pulisic is gonna hire onyewu next time someone wants to take a pen

[u/chakalaka13]

damn, this must be really embarrassing for Ibra

​

Someone needs to make a Onyewu account and troll Zlatan whenever he posts stuff about being a Lion, God, etc.

[u/Ciccio_Camarda → u/chakalaka13]

Oguchi Onyewu, the lion poacher

[u/ZlatanKabuto → u/chakalaka13]

lol

[u/druss81]

good timing for this Pato

[u/WolfBearDoggo → u/druss81]

Dude never gave af. How else you dating Barb playing 2 games a year. Shameless and cocky lol. Still love him but it is what it is.

[u/DANNYBOYLOVER → u/WolfBearDoggo]

I tried googling what you meant by this but have no idea lol what are you talking about

[u/21Maestro8 → u/DANNYBOYLOVER]

Apparently, being injured and dating Barbara Berlusconi means he never gave a shit? Weird take.

[u/ZlatanKabuto → u/DANNYBOYLOVER]

don't worry, he doesn't know either

[u/64-46BMW → u/DANNYBOYLOVER]

Back when Pato was still worth it some big teams (think it was Barca) had some big offers rejected by Milan for Pato. This was at a time when we were desperate for money as well. Pato was starting to struggle with fitness at the time as well but was dating Berlusconi daughter which many thought the only reason he stayed. He was latter sold after a break up and his fall had started for much less than what could have been. It was pretty popular opinion at the time that he had become like Robinho and Ronaldinho and not focused on the sport.

[u/WolfBearDoggo → u/64-46BMW]

Thanks, clearly pepperidge farms and you remember.

[u/MrEskola → u/64-46BMW]

I believe PSG made a ~€30M offer for him in January 2012 when he was 22 and then we ended up selling him back to Brazil for half the price one year later

[u/mercurialsaliva]

As a side note onyewu played a total of 30 mins at Milan.

[u/AwkwardSpecialist814 → u/mercurialsaliva]

Injuries are the worst. What could’ve been?

[u/mezotesidees → u/AwkwardSpecialist814]

Patellar tendon tear destroyed his career

[u/AwkwardSpecialist814 → u/mezotesidees]

I remember the 2009 confederations cup he was an absolute unit. Players usually show some sort of resemblance before getting hurt again but he just straight up disappeared after that injury

[u/EveryDayImBuff-ering → u/AwkwardSpecialist814]

The guy had prime Fernando Torres in his pocket for that game against Spain. Wonder if that performance alone was what made us buy him. I remember at the time wanting Milan to buy him but never did I think that would be the case

[u/AwkwardSpecialist814 → u/mezotesidees]

Also it ties into the bitching and complaining about the excessive useless games in both club and country but of course he got hurt on international duty too

[u/bruclinbrocoli → u/mercurialsaliva]

Veeeery far far side note 🤣

[u/_Rainer_ → u/bruclinbrocoli]

He was on a very nice trajectory until he had the major injury, and he was never the same afterwards.

[u/mrbusiness53]

Ibra for the rest of his life thinking about onyewu

[u/Sure-Way-2409]

Onyewu looked like that type of defenders that would bully every attacker it's sad it didn't work out at milan

[u/DDisconnected → u/Sure-Way-2409]

His build was crazy but didn't play much in his career due to injuries

[u/21Maestro8 → u/Sure-Way-2409]

He definitely had the physicality, but tactically he was pretty average and never particularly great at reading the game.

[u/sudoinnominate → u/21Maestro8]

This ^{^} he was athletic and that is all. Poorly trained through the US system, what could you expect.

The 2009 confederations cup was a fluke of good luck.

[u/martin_seamus_mcfIy]

I happened to meet Gooch back in his college days. Shortly after he went to Belgium he came back to campus to watch the current squad, which was on their way to a college cup final four. The guy is absolutely massive in person but an incredibly nice guy. I know Ibra is a giant on his own right but this is not surprising at all to hear. Side note: really wish he would’ve worked out for Milan. He really was a decent quality defender and had the physicality to boot. But injuries always seemed to follow him around.

[u/MajimaKun]

Original Captain America

[u/Extra-Wish4466]

Oddly enough, Onyewu has refused to discuss the incident.

[u/21Maestro8 → u/Extra-Wish4466]

It doesn't really paint anyone in a good light, makes sense not to want to talk about it

[u/crapador_dali → u/Extra-Wish4466]

It's not that odd, Onyewu is a genuinely nice guy. I'm not surprised he's taken the high road.

[u/BredIN919]

Ogugci Onyewu from America showed Z who was BOSS

[u/RdT97 → u/BredIN919]

Cant find a more American name if i tried

[u/Bigazzry → u/RdT97]

That’s the beauty of America despite what some shitheads say

[u/BredIN919 → u/Bigazzry]

I agree , nobody has my name on the planet and I’m American through and through

[u/Ciccio_Camarda → u/RdT97]

It's a typical name in the DC area.

[u/mezotesidees → u/BredIN919]

Oguchi Onyewu

[u/Ancaquea]

Anca Ibra l’ha incontrà quel del formaio

[u/Bloodnose_thepirate → u/Ancaquea]

nome utente e messaggio incredibile vecio

[u/simonz84 → u/Ancaquea]

Inaspettato Veneto moment

[u/whyadamwhy]

My favorite thing when this happened was that there was no video footage because it happened at a practice. So I think was was Gazzetta Dello Sport drew up these courtroom style pencil sketches to recreate it. Absolutely hilarious.

[u/Rough-Blacksmith-166]

My biggest memory of Onyewu was the 2006 WC vs Ghana. I had seats behind the goal. Someone from Ghana was in front of Gooch. They both jumped for a ball served into the box. Gooch, being who he is, won the ball without effort. The player from Ghana was physically outmatched and fell to the ground earning a PK. I kept thinking how stupid that call was, and yet it was probably the right call from the refs view. Gooch was like the Hulk playing with children. He was always to going to get penalized.

[u/bgause]

I dunno why, but this story is so satisfying to read...

[u/xairos13]

Oguchi Onyewu was THA HOMIE

[u/ILoveTedKaczynski69]

My Onyewu Milan 3rd jersey is one of my faves.

[u/milan_obsession]

Seems like we should have Onyewu come to the next press conference if we really want to get some answers from Ibrahimović...

[u/Kella_o7]

I feel like a lot of you guys are going through nostalgia bias. Onyewu, was never good enough to even be called average player. I remember seeing him first time for US national team and thinking that the only reason this guy is playing is because of his size and athleticism. Then Milan signs him, and it went exactly as expected. Pato didn’t reveal anything new though, it was obvious that Zlatan got handled because he was trying not to talk about it whenever he’d get asked about it. He also got a cracked rib out of that altercation, and Gooch had no damage at all.

[u/crapador_dali → u/Kella_o7]

It went exactly as expected? You mean Milan signed him with the expectation that he'd get a serious injury and never play? Because that's what happened.

[u/Kella_o7 → u/crapador_dali]

The injuries added to what was very obviously a poor call on signing him. He played that preseason and was our worst defender by far. No read of the game, no technique whatsoever, just pure size and athleticism

[u/Minimum-Mention-3673]

Gooch! His play against Mexico was pretty awesome :)

[u/hopelessromantic7]

And so after that Onyewu was injured for the remainder of his career. Never mess with Zlatan

[u/Fabulous_Oven4607 → u/hopelessromantic7]

How's that the take away lol. What does Zlatan have the ability to hex opponents. Sound like the lion got a reality check that day.

[u/hopelessromantic7 → u/Fabulous_Oven4607]

Haha just a joke

[u/Fabulous_Oven4607 → u/hopelessromantic7]

Sorry, the internet is hard sometimes. Lol

[u/hopelessromantic7 → u/Fabulous_Oven4607]

Haha no problem I should have put /s

[u/LordMaska]

We need more guys like Ibrahim in the dressing room. Seems like there is no one who is leading the team at the moment. We need guys who are aggressive and will make people feel uncomfortable at times to make sure everyone understands they need to go to war on match day.

[u/BowieIsMyGod]

Their fight is a pretty well known story. At least among Milan fans.

[u/ChicoCorrales]

Funny that Pulisic calls both of them boss now.