Zlatan slammed for posting about ‘protecting nature’ after explosive claims he shot lion on trip to South Africa

Football icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic has refused to respond to accusations of killing a lion in South Africa, but has still been attacked by his compatriots on social media.

According to Swedish outlet Expressen, the alleged incident took place in 2011, with the AC Milan veteran accused of later importing the animal's skin, skull and jaw to his native Sweden.

The Scandinavian evening newspaper reported that Ibrahimovic obtained a hunting license then, in under a year, killed the male in his natural habitat.

The 39-year-old, who has only just returned to the national team after coming out of retirement, has been widely-criticized after the claims in his homeland. 

Although hunting lions is legal in some circumstances in South Africa, the animal, which Ibrahimovic models himself on, is officially regarded 'vulnerable' by the Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

And while he reportedly refused to respond to Expressen directly, Zlatan was attacked on Twitter by his countrymen on Tuesday after tweeting about an unrelated nature issue involving windfarms.  

"What made me invest and be [a part of] Offerdal is [its] magnificent nature close to the mountains. I question the wisdom of destroying this beautiful nature with a large-scale wind power industry," he wrote on the social media platform on Tuesday afternoon.

"Have you shot a lion lately?" asked one user in the replies.

"Did you write this tweet about how much you love nature before or after you shot a lion in Africa?" questioned another.

Zlatan also copped additional stick for his hypocrisy by involving himself in ecological and wind energy matters despite having previously told basketball legend LeBron James to stick to sport. 

"[He's] phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time," Zlatan said of the LA Lakers star.

“Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do…That is the big first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.”

“It’s funny he should say that," James hit back. "Because I believe he was the same guy who said back in 2018, when he was back in Sweden, talking about the same things, because his last name wasn’t a certain last name, he felt like it was some racism going on when he was out on the pitch. 

“I speak from a very educated mind. I’m kind of the wrong guy to go at because I do my homework,” James warned.

That furor since dying down, Ibrahimovic is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons with a far more personal scandal on his hands.