Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Sue Swedish Doctor Ulf Karlsson over Doping Allegation

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will sue Swedish doctor Ulf Karlsson after he aimed doping allegations at the striker and his former club, Juventus.

According to his agent, Mino Raiola, per Sebastian Mattsson of Swedish newspaper Expressen (h/t the Guardian), Ibrahimovic will take legal action against Karlsson after he told Sport Bladet (h/t David F. Sanchidrian of AS): "Zlatan put on 10 kilos in six months during his time at Juventus. I think he was doping, that's how it seems to me."

The doctor added he was "convinced" of his accusation and said: "He put on 10 kilos of muscle in six months. It’s impossible to do that in such a short space of time."

Karlsson also pointed to the case of another Sweden and former Juve star Albin Ekdal: "[Ekdal] put on eight kilos while he was at the club. I think there was a culture of it at Juventus. They had a club doctor who was suspended for 22 months."

Per Mattsson (h/t the Guardian), Raiola said:

"

We will sue him. There are always people who hate. Maybe he is a former athlete who failed, or maybe he's just jealous. But this man has made a big mistake. He had one life before making this statement, and he will have a different life after it. He is spreading falsehoods.

Doping at Juventus was over when Zlatan arrived. We had plenty of doping controls there and Zlatan was tested between 15 and 20 times. Juventus were always under the microscope. The claims are just crazy—the facts are not there. All the clubs Zlatan has been at know he doesn't even take aspirin.

"

He added: "I was just talking to him [Ibrahimovic]. He is calm. He's more embarrassed that he missed a penalty yesterday. He said it was not his job to respond to these kinds of allegations."

Ibrahimovic played with the Bianconeri for two seasons and won back-to-back Serie A titles in 2005 and 2006, but the club was stripped of the honours and relegated to Serie B for their part in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.

LUCA BRUNO/Associated Press

Karlsson has formerly worked with Sweden's athletics team and helped them to success in the Olympics and the UEFA European Championship.

The issue of doping in sport has become prominent in recent years, with cyclist Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and, more recently, tennis player Maria Sharapova having a positive drug test at the Australian Open.

Football has also been involved in the conversation of performance-enhancing drugs in recent months.

In November, Arsene Wenger told L'Equipe (h/t the Guardian) his Arsenal side have faced "many teams" that have doped, while on April 3, the Sunday Times reported allegations that British doctor Mark Bonar helped 150 athletes dope, including Premier League footballers.

Journalist Miguel Delaney noted why the issue is often under-reported in relation to football:

Ibrahimovic is enjoying an excellent campaign with Paris Saint-Germain, who have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title and remain in the hunt for the UEFA Champions League.

Squawka Football revealed the 34-year-old's magnificent goalscoring record after he netted for PSG against Manchester City on Tuesday:

The Swede earlier had a penalty saved from Joe Hart, but he made amends as he showed his predatory instinct to punish a sloppy mistake from Fernando, per BT Sport Football:

As such a high-profile player in the game, the accusations against him could prompt further investigation into the sport as a whole.

As Sanchidrian noted, Ibrahimovic has never failed a drug test, and according to the Guardian, Karlsson said he "had no evidence" to support his claim against him.