Over the years, England and Sweden have become unlikely rivals in the arena of international football. Their latest meeting in the Quarter Finals of the 2018 World Cup is just the latest in a series of titanic tussles between the two North European nations, and while both teams are playing down their chances of appearing in a World Cup semi final, they'll both quietly be confident of progressing to the next stage.
But away from the cameras and journalists that are commonplace all over Russia at the moment, back home, two of English and Swedish football's biggest names are making a pretty interesting bet, and it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top, both on and off the pitch.
Despite having played together for only half a season at Paris Saint Germain in France, David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović's careers have been intertwined for over a decade, thanks to their roles in some of the biggest moments in football history over that time.
Captaining their respective nations, they can now both sit back at home while the two teams lock horns in Samara, and they've come up with a pretty interesting bet for the match. As you might expect from two such icons of the game, David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović are both pretty active on Instagram, and earlier this week, Zlatan threw the gauntlet at Becks.
"Yo @davidbeckham if @england wins I buy you dinner where ever you want in the world, but if @swemnt wins you buy me what ever I want from @ikeasverige ok?" challenged the Swede, saying that if Sweden won the game, the 43-year-old Beckham would have to to take him to IKEA, while Zlatan would buy Becks dinner if the result went the other way.
David Beckham accepted the bet, but he wasn't exactly happy with the terms of the forfeit. No, David Beckham had a better idea.
"@iamzlatanibrahimovic if Sweden win I will personally take you to IKEA and buy you what ever you need for the new mansion in LA, but when England win I want you to come watch and England game at Wembley wearing an England shirt and enjoy fish & chips at half time."
I don't know about you, but I'd love to see a proud man like Zlatan Ibrahimović forced to wear a rival's shirt in a rival stadium. Forced to eat fish and chips. Ahead of the game, Sweden are firmly the underdogs with the bookmakers, but not only was Zlatan confident, but so were the furniture brand IKEA.
Ranked 24th in the world prior to the tournament's start, Sweden have grown in confidence with every game, recovering from a loss to Germany to top their group and knock out the world champions in the process, and having done so, they'll be confident of knocking out England and going to the semi finals. If they do make it, Zlatan Ibrahimović is set for a very satisfying dinner.
