The Surprise Player Lionel Messi Asked To Swap Shirts With

Posted Tuesday, January 19, 2021 by sportbible

Despite having one of the most impressive collections we've ever seen, Lionel Messi isn't too into swapping shirts.

Messi is not normally one to ask to swap shirts unless he's playing against a fellow Argentine but made an exception when he came up against Zinedine Zidane early on in his career.

"I am not one to ask to swap shirts. I asked, once...I asked Zidane," Messi said.

"I don't ask for shirts. If there is an Argentine, I will swap with an Argentine.

"If not and there is someone else that asks me, I will swap it with them. If not, I do not look and do not ask."

Yet back in 2010, it seems the six-time Ballon d'Or winner switched things up a bit as according to former Arsenal man Theo Walcott, Messi asked to swap shirts with him following Arsenal's late 2-1 Champions League win at the Emirates.

"When he had the ball and he wanted to face up with me, he would turn and go the other way," Walcott told talkSPORT.

"I thought, 'OK, Messi doesn't want to try and run past me, that's a good sign'.

"We played Barcelona quite a lot and Messi asked for my shirt. I thought, 'Wow, the greatest player in the world is asking for my shirt!' I've got no words for that."

Walcott's shirt wasn't quite visible in Messi's memorable shirt collection picture but there were some serious names in there, to be fair.

A couple of years back, Antonio Rudiger claimed that Messi asked for his shirt swap after Chelsea and Barcelona played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Rudiger thought there was no way Messi would want to swap, but hanks to an assist from teammate Cesc Fabregas, who played with Messi at Barca, the German got the coveted jersey and still has it now.

Things didn't go too well for Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies, however. He wanted to trade shirts with Messi in August but the Blaugrana skipper was so upset after the 8-2 Champions League quarter thumping that he didn't fancy it.