Lionel Messi has rarely swapped
Lionel Messi has a strict rule about changing shirts
with opposing players, but he rarely makes an exception.
- Lionel Messi has rarely swappe
shirts with an opponent after a match, but has made notable exceptions throughout his illustrious career, including most recently at Inter Miami’s
One thing has been clear since Lionel Messi moved to the United States: his shirts are in high demand.
Sales of Inter Miami jerseys bearing his name have soared, with suppliers struggling to keep up with demand and opposing teams asking for his jerseys every game. It is nothing new for players to receive memorabilia from some of the greatest football players of all time. Messi had to hand over a piece of history to midfielder Dax McCarthy, who won the League Cup with a win over Nashville SC after winning his first title with his new club earlier this year. After the match, the pair swapped shirts, with McCarthy expressing his disappointment at the result after sharing a photo of a smiling Messi at home wearing the shirt, declaring the evening “wasn’t a complete defeat”. McCarthy was lucky enough to wear Messi’s shirt but had to abide by Argentina’s strict rules on post-match exchanges. In 2019, Messi said that his general rule was to change shirts, but that he would not ask opponents to do so. That honor was awarded to only one rival: Zinedine Zidane. Messi did not resist the opportunity to wear the French midfield master’s shirt in El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid early in his career, despite the rivalry between the two clubs. Since then, Messi has been happy to wait for others to come to him in search of a trade. “I don’t ask for a shirt, I usually change it, but I asked Zidane once,” Messi previously told TyC Sports. “If there was an Argentine, I would interact with that person, but I wouldn’t ask anyone unless someone asked me.”
