Zlatan Ibrahimovic escapes punishment for fracturing Mohamed El-Munir’s skull

Multiple reports are circulating that the MLS Disciplinary Committee will not suspend LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic after his elbow lead to a fracture around Los Angeles Football Club defender Mohamed El-Munir’s right temple in the teams’ meeting on Friday.

Instead, the Disciplinary Committee issued Ibrahimovic a “formal warning,” that if he does it again he’ll be suspended next time. He already served a Disciplinary Committee suspension earlier this season, two games after he choked Sean Johnson in an off-the-ball incident.

ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle reports that the logic was that Ibrahimovic did not fully cock his elbow in the approach with El-Munir, and his fist wasn’t clenched, so the intent wasn’t there.

The Los Angeles Times’ Kevin Baxter mentioned in his report that El-Munir is unlikely to return during the regular season — it’s unclear if that’s from the team as a timeline for the player.

If you missed it, here’s the play and here’s the result.

It’s true that Ibrahimovic’s intent is not as obvious as the choking incident earlier this season, but the player’s priors, including over his entire career, plus the severity of the injury, plus the videotape showing Ibrahimovic knowing El-Munir was approaching, means no suspension is a total joke. Many watching closely were resigned to no suspension coming, but a literal slap on the wrist of “Mmmkay, don’t do that again or else, mister!” is beyond frustrating.

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