Lionel Messi names the only player he has ever asked to swap shirts

Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, has admitted he only asked current Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane for his shirt.

Messi is regularly asked by his opponents to swap shirts at the end of games, but does not do so himself.

However, during one El Clasico fixture, during his early time at the Camp Nou, he played against Zidane and couldn’t resist the opportunity to get the Frenchman’s jersey.

“I don’t ask for shirts, I usually swap them, but I asked Zidane once. If there is an Argentine I swap it with him, but, unless someone asks me, I’m not asking anyone,” Messi told TyC Sports. If there is an Argentine I swap it with him, but, unless someone asks me, I’m not asking anyone.”

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu recently insisted the talismanic Messi would remain at the Catalan club for at least the next five years after it emerged there is a clause in his current deal that would allow him to leave at the end of the season, prompting rumours he could be set for a Nou Camp exit.

Bartomeu said: “Ultimately it is he who must decide. He has earned the right to decide when he will stop playing football. But like he said a few weeks ago, he wants to finish his playing career at Barcelona .

“Over the next two or three seasons our leader will continue to be Leo Messi. There’s no doubt that he is still young, still strong. He is still ambitious.