Messi swapping shirts

It's not often that we see Messi swapping shirts with other players, but it's clear that a lot of people would want a shirt from him so it does happen from time to time.

The first recorded instance was in June 24th, 2006, against Mexico in the 2006 World Cup R16. He swapped shirts with Rafael Márquez (team-mate of his in Barcelona at the time).

The next instance was in February 20th 2008, in the UCL R16 first leg against Celtic. Here, he swapped shirts with Celtic's captain Stephen Mcmanus after the final whistle, and both handshaked afterward.

In 2012, after the first leg 3-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen away in the 2011/12 UCL R16, Messi was seen swapping shirts with Czech defender Michal Kadlec, who had previously fought with his team-mate Friedrich over who would get the shirt. Coincidentally, both featured a year later on the Czech version of FIFA 14's cover.

He once again swapped shirts only 2 rounds later in the same UCL, when he swapped shirts with John Terry after the 2011/12 UCL semi-final first leg against Chelsea. He had previously faced the English defender multiple times in the Champions League.

Later on in the same year, he swapped shirts with his idol Pablo Aimar, after beating Benfica 2-0 with 2 assists from him.

In the same UCL season, after the end of the second leg between Barcelona and PSG, Messi and his compatriot Lavezzi exchanged shirts.

In September 2013, after winning 4-0 against Rayo Vallecano, he swapped shirts with Argentine striker Joaquín Larrivey.

In January 2014, he swapped shirts with Arda Turan after Barcelona and Atlético Madrid tied 0-0 in La Liga. He later joined Barcelona 1 ½ years later.

Next up is Argentina against Jamaica in the 2015 Copa América, which ended 1-0 for Argentina. At the end of the game, he swapped shirts with Jobi McAnuff, Jamaica's Nº 10.

Not long after, in August of that same year, he swapped shirts with Roma legend Totti to auction for Roma Cares & Fundación Barça.

The same year, in November, and involving Roma again, Messi exchanged shirts with Lucas Digne, defender of the Italian team.

In April 2017, after Barcelona got kicked out of the UCL on a 3-0 aggregate against Juventus, Chiellini and Bonucci fought over who would get Messi's jersey, which Bonucci ultimately won.

Then, in August, he swapped shirts with Alan Ruschel, one of the few survivors of Chapecoense's plane crash back in November 2016.

After the first-leg draw between Barcelona and Chelsea in the UCL R16, Messi and ex-team-mate Fabregas swapped shirts with eachother.

After the 2018 World Cup clash between Iceland and Argentina, Messi swapped shirts with Birkir Bjarnason.

In January 2019, after winning 2-1 against Getafe with a goal from Messi, he exchanged shirts with Getafe's goalkeeper Jaime Mata.

In March 2019, despite the known rivalry between Barcelona and Espanyol, young left-back Adria Pedrosa asked for Messi's shirt after the end of the game (which was won 2-0 thanks to Messi's brace). It shows that even fierce rivals admit his greatness.

In the Copa América of the same year, he exchanged shirts with Junior Moreno after Argentina won 2-0 against Venezuela.

In October, after beating Inter Milan 2-1 with an assist from him, he swapped shirts with his compatriot Lautaro Martínez.

In the same UCL season, in the first leg R16 game against Napoli, he swapped shirts with Lorenzo Insigne.

In October of the same year, he swapped shirts with Carlos Grueso from Ecuador, after Argentina won 1-0 with a goal from Messi.

Then, in December, he exchanged shirts with Italian legend Buffon after Barcelona lost 3-0 to Juventus.

In February of 2021, after beating Elche 3-0 with 2 goals from him, he exchanged shirts with Elche's goalkeeper, Edgar Badia, in a heartwarming scene.

And finally, the last one I found was when he swapped shirts with his countryman Icardi after PSG kicked Barça out of the UCL.

This has been my longest entry yet, and I worked very hard to find all of these, so I hoped you liked it and I'll see you in the next blog.