The ending to Liverpool’s match against Newcastle was pure box-office.
From wild celebrations to explicit gestures, Liverpool’s 2-1 victory was markedly different from the 9-0 win against Bournemouth the previous week.
Now, another interesting thing was caught by some eagle-eyed viewers in the aftermath of the crazy ending of the match.
Roberto Firmino, one of the goal scorers for Liverpool, was seen in a Newcastle shirt.
Watching your team’s player in another team’s jersey is always a weird sight. It is unexpected and catches you off-guard.
Shirt swaps are not uncommon in football. In fact, it’s been happening for as long as I can remember.
These shirts are kept as mementos, as a mark of admiration and to remember the players they’ve played against.
In the match against Newcastle, Roberto Firmino swapped shirts with a fellow Brazilian Joelinton.
What is uncommon, however, is a player actually wearing a shirt after swapping. For one thing, why would you want to rep another team in front of your own supporters?
To top it all off, the player and jersey just…fit. It looked very natural. *jitters*
The two players have more than just their birth country in common.
Both players played in the German league for 1899 Hoffenheim before coming to the Premier League.
Joelinton has even confessed to being inspired by Firmino’s journey and has stated that the pair exchange messages on WhatsApp quite often.
There were even rumours this window that Joelinton could follow Firmino to Liverpool, however, that did not pan out.
Both players had good games for their clubs. It is possible that their performances on the day, along with the shared history and the fact that the two know each other quite well, culminated in the shirt swap after the match.
Kopites must be hoping that they only find Firmino in a different team’s jersey after the match and not during.
