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Popular streamer and content creator, iShowSpeed, met up with former Swedish footballer, Zlatan Ibrahimović, at Milan, Italy, on Sunday.

iShowSpeed, better known simply as Speed, is a well-known fan of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and cricketer Virat Kohli, and given the opportunity, he never misses the chance to hype these two stars.

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The American streamer, Speed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr has been on a tour of Europe during the ongoing Euro 2024 tournament and during his stop at Italy, he got the chance to do an interview with the iconic player, Zlatan.

The two were engaged in a chat during a car ride, which was streamed live on his channel, when the conversation turned to cricket and further to Virat Kohli.

Did Zlatan Ibrahimovic know about Virat Kohli?

Speed had asked Zlatan, "Do you know Virat Kohli?", to which the footballer looked clueless and replied negatively, "Do I know who?"

Despite Speed's attempts of trying to tell him that he was an Indian cricketer and even as he went on to show a picture of Virat Kohli to Zlatan, he seemed to be unaware of such a person.

Zlatan replied: "Not being disrespectful but I've never seen cricket in my life." and further asked, "Is he a big player?"

To which Speed replied, "He is the GOAT, he is the GOAT!" and tried to chastise the footballer, telling him that. "You got learn the different GOATs in different aspects, man!"

At the end of the video, Zlatan was heard saying that the sport of cricket was not on his radar until now: "That is not on my radar, cricket." 

Did Brazil's legendary footballer Ronaldo Nazario recognise Virat Kohli?

It is a well-known fact which even Zlatan has admitted, about Brazil's Ronaldo Nazario being his idol growing up. Well, Speed, had also met up with the Brazilian earlier this year.

However, unlike Zlatan, his idol, Ronaldo, despite some hesitancy, was able to recognise the Indian cricket player from his picture, Virat Kohli.

Is this the first time where an athlete from another sport has not been able to identify a cricketer? 

Absolutely not! In 2014, Tennis legend Maria Sharapova also had failed to recognise cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and her reply "I don't know who is Sachin Tendulkar," had angered a lot of Indian fans at that time.

However, the legend himself cooled down the anger in an interview with NDTV, where he said:

"When I was in England, I got messages telling me that Sharapova did not know me. I believe that not every sportsperson has to know and follow about all other sports. If someone asks me about basketball, I will not be able to answer, but it does not mean that I am being disrespectful towards them. Maybe she does not follow cricket, so it was not disrespectful." 

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Saino Zachariah Photo

Saino Zachariah is a content producer for The Sporting News' India edition.