Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Barcelona centre-forward will miss the team’s next La Liga match, away to Tenerife on Sunday the 10^th, after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last night.

The Swede, who was frustrated by the Villarreal’s tight marking, and dubious refereeing – whose calls seemed to be against him all night, could not contain it further in the 88^th minute when he two-footed stomp one of his marker, Villarreal’s centre-back Diego Godin. He was lucky to get off only with the lesser caution as it could easily have been a sending-off offence.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola advised Ibrahimovic to control his temper and accept the decisions made by match officials or he risks letting down the team.

“He’s a temperamental player, but he needs to be a bit careful because we might end up with 10 players one day. Ibrahimovic needs to be strong mentally, and he is capable of doing that as he’s a great player. We can never control referees’ decisions.”

This week’s missed match will be the player’s third after he was rested for the Valencia match at the Mestalla (0-0, 17 Oct. 09), and against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames (1-1, 21 Nov. 09) due to injuries.

Zlatan has so far started 11, and was used as a substitute in another 3 La Liga matches.

He has also received yellow cards in these matches before last night, and will be the first Barcelona player suspended due to the cautions:

Racing Santander – 22 Sep. 09

Malaga – 26 Sep. 09

Osasuna – 31 Oct. 09

Espanyol – 12 Dec. 09