Arshavin’s embarrassing memory involving Ronaldo: “My wife asked me, but he...”

Former Russia and Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin has spoken about his attempt to swap shirts with Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

TodayPress TV reports that the veteran recalled the story while discussing some of his most memorable moments involving shirt exchanges with other players.

In a video published on the Russian Football Union’s Telegram channel, Arshavin said:

“Broadly speaking, I didn’t care who I swapped shirts with. But there were two memorable incidents... The first happened when my wife asked me to swap shirts with Cristiano Ronaldo. If I remember correctly, it was a 0-0 match in Moscow in 2004 or 2005. But he basically brushed me off.

The second happened when I had just arrived in England. My childhood coach collected red No. 9 shirts. We were playing Liverpool, and at that point I had no idea that I would score four goals in that match. I thought of asking Fernando Torres for his shirt and giving it to my coach as a birthday present during the summer. We swapped shirts, and I even gave the post-match interview wearing a Liverpool shirt.”

Namiq HUN