A photo of Lionel Messi showing off a Collingwood jumper has got tongues wagging.
The Magpies shared an image of the Argentinian football legend to their social media accounts on Tuesday, and the upload has sent footy fans into meltdown.
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The upload showed Messi holding a Collingwood jersey with “Daicos 7/35” on the back — those numbers belong to Magpies stars Josh and Nick Daicos.
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Collingwood captioned the post: “Trade target confirmed”, with a goat and eyes emoji.
It’s unclear if Messi was in Australia for the photo opportunity. Collingwood told news.com.au the jersey exchange occurred at external event two of their players were invited to and wasn’t organised the club.
Messi is currently in his second season playing for Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, who are on top of the Eastern Conference standings. The MLS finals series kicks off in late October.
Nick Daicos shared the photo in an Instagram album that also featured a snap of a signed Messi Argentina jersey from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Collingwood diehards couldn’t get enough of the sight of Messi holding a Daicos jersey, with many fans all making the same joke comparing Messi to Geelong small forward Gryan Miers.
It all goes back to an incident involving Miers and commentator Gerard Whateley that went viral in July last year.
A fake tweet attributed to Whateley stated: “Gryan Miers is to AFL what Leo Messi is to soccer. Messi may kick more goals, but Miers scans the field just as well. Maybe even better than Messi does.”
The tweet blew up and gained more traction when the Fox Footy personality hit out at trolls, saying: “I never said this and it should be removed.”
Miers stoked the drama by dressing up in Messi’s full Argentina kit for Geelong’s Mad Monday session at the end of the season, and the running gag it took on a new life in this year’s preliminary final between Brisbane and Geelong.
In a tight contest early in the second quarter, a bouncing ball was just kept in on the boundary line by Miers.
The 25-year-old then had the time to boot the ball towards the goalsquare in a classic soccer-style cross, with the bending Sherrin sitting up perfectly for Ollie Henry to slot the goal.
“Has anyone ever compared Gryan Miers to Messi?” Whateley said calling the moment on AFL Nation.
So footy fans had a field day as Messi posed with a Collingwood jersey with Daicos on the back.
Jake Buckley said on X: “Congrats on signing Gryan Miers guys.”
With the AFL off-season now in full swing, one person quipped: “Trade Radio in Argentina about to explode.
One fan wrote on Nick Daicos’ post: “Messi to collingwood confirmed?”
A second said: “Can Messi snap it from 40 on the run? Daicos my goat.”
A third joked: “Messi could learn a thing or two from the goat.”
Another added: “Cute that you got Gryan Miers to sign an autograph for you.”
Former Pies player Trey Ruscoe wrote: “Ronaldo better.”
The sight of global football stars promoting other codes in Australia has become somewhat of a meme in recent years.
In 2022, Manchester United star Marcus Rashford posed with a Sherrin at another event promoting other Aussie sporting codes that weren’t football.
The publicity stunt was slammed by local football (soccer) commentators as cringe-worthy and a missed opportunity to further elevate the round ball game in Australia.
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