Zlatan Ibrahimovic threatened to break teammate's legs, they hated each other

With the football landscape changing at the turn of the millennium, 1995 Champions League winners Ajax had to do their best to keep up, and crafted a squad worthy of doing so.

Returning hero Ronald Koeman made his way from the pitch to the dugout, and with him were a raft of the Netherlands top young talents.

Future World Cup finalists Wesley Sneijder, Nigel de Jong, Johnny Heitinga, Ryan Babel and Martin Stekelenburg were captained by Van der Vaart, who soon had his authority challenged.

Arriving from Malmo in 2001, Ibrahimovic quickly became the star of the side, which was a problem for their captain.

"At that time we were both young and I was the best player in Ajax," explained Van der Vaart.

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"He came to the club and believed that he was the best player at Ajax. Back then he did not act like he does now and I think he was a bit jealous.

"I did not have really big problems with him. It was just two egos converging in one place. I think I was a bigger problem for him than he was for me."

The pair played together 68 times in Amsterdam, twice winning the Eredivisie, along with the KNVB Cup and Johan Cruyff Shield.

But despite their success, things got heated when they first met as opponents in 2004.

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A friendly between Sweden and Ajax in August that year ended 2-2, and Van der Vaart went off injured after seven minutes due to an Ibrahimovic tackle.

The injured midfielder later quoted the striker as saying: "I don't like you, I don't like you as a captain.

"I didn't injure you on purpose and you know it… If you accuse me again, I'll break both your legs and this time it'll be on purpose."

Four days later, with an injured Van der Vaart in the stands at the Amsterdam Arena, Ibrahimovic pulled off the near-impossible.

Facing NAC Breda a few games into the season, the Swede collected a pass halfway between the box and the centre circle and held off a midfielder.

When another came to challenge him, he bumped them up in the air and faked a shot.

That took away the first opponent yet again, and then another was fooled, cutting back, he sent three players for an early bath before faking one final shot, sitting the goalkeeper down and slotting past him.

The stadium was stunned, and the commentator compared the all-time great goal to those scored by Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane.

Koeman was applauding on the touchline, while Ibrahimovic's teammates bundled on top of him in shock.

However, there was one, and only one, person in the arena who wasn't impressed, with the camera panning to an injured Van der Vaart looking on stony-faced.

Later explaining their rivalry, he said: "Yes, he did say that [I'll break your legs], but Zlatan said it to everyone.

"It's also true that around that time things just weren't working between the two of us, but I would rather be in a team with people who are honest, like him, even if it means there are a few arguments.

"But there wasn't a specific moment we fell out - we generally didn't get along well."

That goal was enough to earn Ibrahimovic a €16million move to Juventus, ending his time with Van der Vaart who finished the season before joining Hamburg in Germany.

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They faced off again later that year in the Champions League with Ajax and Juve, before meeting in 2011 with Spurs and Milan.

Thankfully, there weren't any legs broken in any of those meetings, with the two now retiring as heroes who reached the very top of the game - with their legs intact.