A now retired referee once revealed how he openly favoured Lionel Messi in a game after the Argentine agreed to give him his shirt after a match by meeting a strict condition.
Messi is arguably the football GOAT with eight Ballon d'Or crowns in his career on the pitch.
After coming through the youth team ranks at Barcelona, Messi cemented his status as an all-time great with his performances at the Catalan club.
Messi ended up scoring 672 goals across 778 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona before leaving the club in 2021.
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In that time, he won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League crowns, seven Copa del Reys, seven Supercopa de Espana winners' medals, three UEFA Super Cups and a trio of FIFA Club World Cups at the Camp Nou.
He later moved to Paris Saint-Germain and spent two seasons at the Parc des Princes, scoring 32 goals in 75 matches as he won two Ligue 1 crowns.
Since 2023, the 38-year-old Messi has been with MLS outfit Inter Miami, where he has won the Leagues Cup and the Supporters' Shield.
On the international front with Argentina, Messi has 112 goals in 193 caps for his country and captained the South American nation to the 2022 World Cup, while also winning two Copa America titles.
And at the 2007 Copa America, Messi was in the Argentina side which beat Mexico 3-0 in one of the semi-finals.
Messi was on the scoresheet along with Gabriel Heinze and Juan Roman Riquelme.
The then-Barcelona youngster faced the prospect of being booked in that encounter, which would have meant him missing the final against Brazil due to accumulating yellow cards during the tournament.
But former referee Carlos Chandia, who officiated that encounter, revealed he spared Messi the prospect of missing that game on one strict condition - that he give him his match shirt in return.
As reported by The Mirror, Chandia said on the ESPN FShow: “Out of nowhere, Messi lifts a ball and touches it with his hand, but in the middle of the pitch. There was no goal-scoring chance for the Mexican team or anything like that. So, I told him: 'This is a yellow card, but it will cost you your jersey,' and I didn’t show him the yellow card.
"There were two-and-a-half minutes left, and the score was 3-0. Showing him a yellow card would would have taken away his chance of playing in the Copa America final."
He added: "He gave me the shirt in the dressing room afterwards. In fact, he wanted to take it off on the pitch and I told him: 'No, no, no, no; take it to the dressing room'. And he came to the dressing room with the jersey and left it there for me."
The Chilean former official ended up giving the match worn shirt to his son and believes his action led to him not being selected as the referee for the Copa America final of that year.
Brazil ended up winning the final 3-0 through strikes from Julio Baptista and Dani Alves sandwiching an own-goal from Roberto Ayala.
Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Brazil, Copa America, Barcelona, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami
John McDougall