da pinnacle： Swapping shirts with Lionel Messi is akin to landing “a trophy”, says Santiago Sosa, with the Atlanta United star one of 12 lucky recipients in MLS.
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Argentine icon now in the United StatesSwapped shirts with a number of countrymenEveryone wants a piece of the all-time greatWHAT HAPPENED?
Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi linked up with Inter Miami over the summer and immediately became the biggest story in American soccer. A-list guests have been scrambling for tickets to see him in action, while every rival he comes up against is desperate to walk away with a permanent reminder of the day in which they graced the same field as the all-time great.
AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE
So far, Messi has given out 12 jerseys in the States. He has picked eight fellow Argentinians, two Americans, a Brazilian and Ghanaian. Sosa fought hard for his memento after facing his countryman in the Leagues Cup, with Thiago Almada having beaten him to the punch on the field, but he has told of walking away with a prized possession: "[Players] usually wear two jerseys during a game, one in the first half and another in the second. So I gave him mine, and he sent me one he had used [in the first half]. Having faced him is a great memory that's always going to stay with me. Having the shirt is something nice not just for me — but for my family as well. It's a trophy, in a way."
WHAT THEY SAID
Almada formed part of Argentina’s triumphant 2022 World Cup-winning squad, but he said of landing a club shirt from Messi: “When I grabbed it, it smelled like perfume. On the national team, I never wanted to ask him for his jersey or bother him, so I'm very happy to have his shirt.”
GettyWHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
LAFC star John McCarthy is one of the two Americans to have landed a Messi jersey – and the only goalkeeper – and he managed to win the post-game race to the 36-year-old forward despite having already given his shirt to Inter Miami custodian Drake Callender. McCarthy said: “All I really said was: 'Ah, Messi. ¿Camiseta, por favor?' I felt bad because he kind of looked at me like, 'Where's yours?' in a sense. I guess I'm lucky we don't have many Argentinians on the team!”