Henderson refused to swap shirts with Messi after Barca's 3-0 win at Camp Nou

Jordan Henderson has revealed he did not swap shirts with Lionel Messi following Liverpool's Champions League clash with Barcelona last season - because of a lesson he learnt from Roy Keane.

The former Manchester United captain was Henderson's manager at Sunderland and is best recognised for his old school yet honest demeanor.

When he was in charge of the Black Cats, he told his players including Henderson that swapping shirts with a player suggests you're in awe of them.

Liverpool looked like they were on their way out of the Champions League when they lost 3-0 to Barcelona in the first leg of their semi-final at Camp Nou just less than a year ago.

It was Henderson's first experience of being on a pitch with Messi - and the Reds midfielder said it was a world away from watching him on television.

"You don't think to yourself 'Oh my God - that's him,' but there's no question he plays the game differently to when you see him on TV. He's so fast," said Henderson.

"Thinking about his free-kick now, I still can't believe he scored it. I actually thought he was going to take it short.

"I've told you how good I think Ali [Alisson] is, but Messi put that shot in the one area Ali couldn't protect. The whip, the pace, the precision - it was absolutely perfect."

But even that Messi masterclass didn't persuade Henderson to ignore Keane's missive.

"Did I think about asking for his shirt? No. I've never done it," he said.

"Roy Keane told me when I was at Sunderland that if you ask for someone's shirt, it looks like you are in awe of them."

But Henderson did go home from the Camp Nou leg with one Blaugrauna shirt - that of his former team-mate Suarez, despite the Reds skipper having clashed with the Uruguayan during their time together at Liverpool.

"As it turned out, I came home with Luis Suarez's shirt," Henderson said.

"Luis is a good lad and he gave me it as a gesture as we had played together for Liverpool. I don't know what he's done with mine!"

Henderson has said he once "exploded" at Suarez after being frustrated by the striker's histrionics during training.

“At the time I was trying to do the best I could do and it comes as a footballer, the criticism and people doubting you,” Henderson told Jamie Carragher on The Greatest Game podcast.

“At the time I was a young player and there was one or two things Luis did in training that I didn’t like and it made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to be in the same team.

“The arms would go up – it was like, ‘what’s he doing’, as if I shouldn’t be there. It really hurt and frustrated me.

“He did it one, two, three times and then I exploded and I was ready to kill him!

“But from that point I had a really good relationship with Luis, I actually set him up the game after that.”