Lille Olympique Sporting Club midfielder Angel Gomes recently revealed all about the “surreal” moment when Lionel Messi asked for his shirt after a game.
Gomes - full name Adilson Angel Abreu de Almeida Gomes - joined the Manchester United academy at the age of six and made 5 Premier League appearances for the Red Devils’ first team.
After 14 years at the club, he departed from Old Trafford in 2020 and joined Ligue 1 side Lille where he eventually crossed paths with Paris Saint-Germain star, Messi.
The meeting of the two players took place in the State Pierre-Mauroy tunnel in February 2022, just after Lille were battered 5-1 by PSG on home soil.
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Naturally, Gomes made a beeline for Messi to see whether he could get the Argentinian’s shirt as momentum — but he wasn’t expecting the legend to want something in return.
“It was just like a fanboy moment, like, I can’t lie. [Messi] gave me his shirt, he took his t-shirt off and he gave it to me,” Gomes revealed in an interview with Football Focus.
“And for me, I was like, ‘Alright, happy days’ like, cheers, and he was like, ‘Wait, are you not giving me your shirt?’
Gomes was left in disbelief at Messi’s request and questioned: “And I was like, ‘What? You want my shirt?’ And he was like ‘Yeah!’ So I was like, ‘Alright.’
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“From watching him on TV, watching videos of him actually playing,” Gomes added. “To playing against him and getting his shirt, like, It was surreal for me.”
Interestingly, Messi is usually not one to set up a shirt swapping as he apparently isn’t into the business of asking other players for theirs.
Messi has previously stated: “I don’t ask for shirts, I usually swap them, but I asked [Zinedine] Zidane once. If there is an Argentine I swap it with him, but, unless someone asks me, I’m not asking anyone.”
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Gomes is making a name for himself in Ligue 1 this season — with 33 league appearances and eight-goal assists under his belt.
Despite signing a five-year contract with the French side in 2020, he was immediately loaned out to Boavista for their full 2020/21 Primeira Liga campaign.
During his time with the Portuguese team, he registered six goals and six assists in 32 games.
Gomes rejoined Lille for the 2021/22 season while also playing for the England under-21 squad, where he racked up a total of 13 appearances for the latter.
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Lille currently sits fifth in the league table, 19 points below Christophe Galtier’s title-chasing PSG side.
Featured Image Credit: BBC/PSGTopics: Angel Gomes, Lionel Messi, Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Lille