Every major sport has a special history for it. The story behind each one of them is fascinating and worth exploring in this tradition. But not every football game is packed with love, so it makes sense to often disregard shirt swaps.
Jordan Henderson revealed that he hadn’t exchanged shirts with Lionel Messi after Liverpool’s Champions League battle with Barcelona last season – because of a lesson he learned from Roy Keane.
Then the skipper from Liverpool was at Sunderland, Keane was the manager of Henderson, and the long-time great Manchester United told his players never to take part in the long-honored practice of jersey swap.
“When I was in Sunderland, Roy Keane told me that if you ask for someone’s jacket, it looks like you’re scared of it,” Henderson recalled his first field encounter with Messi — and the Reds midfielder said it was a world away from seeing him on television.
“You don’t think to yourself ‘Oh my goodness – that’s him,’ but there is no question he plays the game differently when you see him on TV. He’s so strong “said The Mirror to Henderson.
“Reflecting on his free-kick now I can’t believe he’s made it. Honestly I thought he was going to take it short.
“Did I suggest requesting a shirt for him? No. No. I have never done it,’ he said. But Henderson went home with one former Camp Nou team-mate Suarez Blaugrana jersey.
“As it turned out, I came home, with Luis Suarez’s top,” Henderson said.
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