“He’s clearly mad” – LA Galaxy star responds to claims over Lionel Messi denying to swap shirts

With the 2024/25 MLS season up and running, it has the world tuning in to watch Lionel Messi thrive at Inter Miami and already, the Argentine has made an impact. The 36-year-old got an assist in his side’s opening-day win over Real Salt Lake City and then played a starring role in Inter Miami’s draw against Los Angeles Galaxy. The Herons were second-best for most of the game until Messi decided to show his quality and netted a 92nd-minute equaliser to secure the point.

However, while the fans were overjoyed with the result, the Argentine wasn’t as the focus was on Messi’s post-game reaction with the 35-year-old unhappy. He cut a frustrated figure and footage emerged showing Messi snubbing LA Galaxy defender Eriq Zavaleta’s request to swap shirts. The video went viral on social media after the game with many wondering why the Argentine refused to swap shirts.

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But the defender has set the record straight on social media and revealed that the entire thing was nothing more than an agenda.

“I never spoke to him lol. He’s clearly mad at the refs but agendas….,” Zavaleta said, on X.

Not only that, LA Galaxy’s Diego Fagundez later posted on social media that he got Messi’s shirt and the 29-year-old showed off the iconic No. 10 jersey. Yet, while the 35-year-old may not have had a spat with Zavaleta, he was involved in an altercation with another player. The former Barcelona superstar and Edwin Cerrillo exchanged more than a few ill-tempered words in the first half and had to be separated by their teammates. The LA Galaxy player later accused Messi of trying “to get into” his head but never revealed what he said.

The game, however, between the two sides was a scrappy and tight fixture with LA Galaxy taking the lead in the 75th minute. But they went down to ten men less than fifteen minutes later after Mark Delgado was shown a second yellow. This allowed Inter Miami and Lionel Messi the chance to find that equaliser. The Herons are now unbeaten in their first two games of the season and sit at the top of the Eastern Conference in the MLS, with four points from their two games. They host Orlando City on Saturday with Gerardo Martino hoping to keep the run going.