Scott McTominay has revealed he thought he was going to be snubbed by Lionel Messi when he asked to swap shirts with the Barcelona legend.
The Scotland international featured for Manchester United in their Champions League quarter-final defeat to Barcelona back in 2019 as the Catalans triumphed 4-0 on aggregate after a comfortable second-leg win at the Nou Camp.
During the first-leg Messi was involved in a collision with defender Chris Smalling which saw the Barcelona captain accidentally elbowed in the face.
After the defeat McTominay sent teammate Sergio Romero to ask Messi for his shirt, but the Argentine forward was reluctant because he thought it was the Scotland international who had given him a bloody nose.
Asked who he thinks the best player in the world is, McTominay told ESPN: "Messi, 100 per cent. Yeah, Messi, Messi. I got his shirt, you know?
"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."
