It’s crazy how fans and supporters can go beyond normalcy for their icons. Lionel Messi, with all his stardom and heroics, can even get players from rival teams to get very passionate. In a recent reveal, a former rival of the Argentine, Matias Vargas talked about his ecstatic jersey acquisition from the legend and how he was obsessed with it. The ex-Espanyol star did not even allow his mother to touch it, leaving the iconic fabric as it is!

The Argentine’s #10 jersey from the Catalan club is quite an iconic symbol. Even though it cannot be retired at the club due to La Liga rules, many people still consider it more than holy.

Vargas preserved a Lionel Messi jersey for 2-3 months before washing it!

Many players have already expressed their excitement about facing Lionel Messi. But here was a rival star from Espanyol, Matias Vargas, who took his reverence for the former Barcelona captain to the next level. Vargas slept alongside Messi’s jersey and did not wash it. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, he said, “I slept with a Messi shirt next to my pillow for two or three months. Dirty, as it was. I played against him, and we changed them. My mother told me, ‘Let me wash it’. I told her not to touch it.”

This happened after Espanyol’s league game against Barcelona in January 2020. Espanyol managed to draw the bitter Derbi Barceloni (Derby of Barcelona) 2-2, and the player was able to get hold of the Argentine’s jersey.

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Matias Vargas had the opportunity to play against the star on just two occasions in La Liga. Even though the former Espanyol winger hails from Argentina, Messi was absent in a couple of matches that Vargas played. Sometimes it could be difficult to get La Pulga’s jersey as the demand for it was high. And for the winger to come from the bench and receive it was a great achievement. However, the tales of Lionel Messi and his iconic jerseys have not left him, despite leaving Barcelona.

Messi’s jersey makes an appearance in the 2023 fashion record books

Lionel Messi may have moved to Inter Miami, but his impact is boundless. A couple of months ago, his Inter Miami jersey broke records for the highest number of sales in 24 hours for any athlete for a new club. But recently, that moment was also considered one of the fashion-defining moments of 2023 by Vogue. The 36-year-0ld overtook earlier records like Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Manchester United jersey in 2021 and Tom Brady‘s Tampa Bay Buccaneers feat in 2020.

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However, his Barcelona days are missed by most of his fans. Even Joan Laporta earlier said that it was difficult to see Lionel Messi in an Inter Miami jersey. On the whole, athletes indeed carry a big importance in our lives, and people go beyond measures to show their love.

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