Scott McTominay Made Sure Lionel Messi Knew He Didn't Elbow The Barcelona Star

Posted Friday, April 02, 2021 by sportbible

Scott McTominay has revealed that he managed to get Lionel Messi's shirt, but not until convincing the Barcelona star he didn't elbow him.

Anyone playing against Messi would no doubt want to get the six time Ballon d'Or winner's shirt at the end of the game, even if he spent 90 minutes taunting you with his skills.

That's what happened to Manchester United midfielder McTominay, when the Premier League side met Barca in the Champions League in 2019.

Just a few weeks after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side earned a famous win in Paris they came up against the Spanish side.

Messi was tormentor in chief in both legs but in the first leg didn't get on the scoresheet, instead he got a bloody nose from an accidental elbow from Chris Smalling.

After the match McTominay wanted to get Messi shirt, but first he needed goalkeeper Sergio Romero to explain it wasn't the Scot who caused the damage.

"Messi, 100 per cent. Yeah, Messi, Messi. I got his shirt, you know?" McTominay told ESPN when asked who the best player in the world is.

"So, whenever we played against him for Barcelona [in 2019], Chris Smalling elbowed him and he's got blood coming out of his nose. And he thought it was me.

"Because I said to Sergio Romero, 'please can you ask Messi to get his shirt?'.

"Sergio comes back in and said, 'Oh, he thinks you were the one who elbowed him on the halfway line'. I said, 'No, no, no, no - tell him it wasn't me, so make sure I get that shirt because that's going in my bedroom'. So he knows it wasn't me now.

"Sorry Chrissy, but he was the one who roughed him up a bit."

Whilst Messi didn't score in the first game, the only goal coming from Luke Shaw scoring in the wrong net, he did make amends at home.

The 33-year-old scored twice, and Philippe Coutinho also scored, to knock United out of Europe, before the Spanish side were involved in their own famous comeback, as Liverpool beat them 4-0 at Anfield.