Zlatan Ibrahimović has told England's players to "look in the mirror" and ask "how good you really are" after the Three Lions suffered their latest failure to reach a World Cup final with defeat to Argentina.
England have now lost three World Cup semifinals -- 1990, 2018 and 2026 -- since last reaching the final in 1966, when they beat West Germany to become world champions for the only time.
Despite England having what is widely regarded as the best and most exciting league in world football with the Premier League, the national team has not won a major international trophy since World Cup glory 60 years ago.
And former Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United and LA Galaxy forward Ibrahimović, who played in two World Cups with Sweden, believes that England suffered another "reality check" by losing to Argentina.
"If you go back, England has won a World Cup," Ibrahimović told a mypartner.com panel in New York. "How many times did England beat a proper team?
"Can I ask the audience here? A proper team? Yesterday they played against a proper team [Argentina] in a major tournament.
"Winning against Norway, with all the respect for Norway, it's not a proper team. And I'm Swedish, that's f------ teasing.
"But Argentina is a proper team. So yes, England, they show fighting spirit, they show their mentality. But let's be honest, they didn't beat a proper team.
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"And when you beat a proper team, then you start talking. But I know the English press, they like the gossip, they like the propaganda to build them up, to make them big.
"Yesterday was a reality check. There is levels to these games. Levels. That's the difference.
"Look here in mirror and ask yourself how good are you?"
Ibrahimović, who spent two seasons at United between 2016-2018, said that the Premier League's strength should not be used as a gauge of England's strength as a football nation.
"People, according to themselves, they think they are good, better than everybody else," he said. "But the reality is the Premier League is not only based on English players.
"You have a mix of the foreign players that represent Premier League and that's why Premier League is good."