“Seemed like a jerk to me”: Smolov remembered that interesting conversation with Messi.

“Seemed like a jerk’s behavior…” Smolov recalled the amusing conversation with Lionel Messi. Fyodor Smolov shared a funny story about an attempted exchange of footballs with the world-renowned footballer. According to the striker, after scoring a goal against Barcelona, he tried to talk to Lionel Messi in English. But the Argentine simply didn’t understand his request. “When I scored against Barcelona, I asked Leo Messi for a football. At that time, he didn’t speak English. Now, at Miami, he does speak English. But back then, I asked him in English, and he looked at me like I was a jerk. I realized that he didn’t understand what I said.” Was it really just a language barrier? Football insiders and sports psychologists point out that Messi rarely participated in spontaneous exchanges of footballs during his time with Barcelona. For him, it was more of a ritual, requiring prior agreement or special circumstances. Additionally, immediately after a match, Messi was usually focused on analyzing the game and communicating with those around him. This could have created an “ignorance” effect. It’s more likely that it was a combination of factors: a language barrier, Messi’s personal ethics, and simply a rush in the locker room. Nevertheless, Smolov sees this situation as something funny. And now, this story has become part of football folklore.