After Mario Balotelli versus Real Madrid: This shirt-swapping lark can be a lucrative business

Mario Balotelli should perhaps be admired for his shirt-swapping antics (PA)

It was the kind of singular determination many a Liverpool fan has been bemoaning the complete absence of in their new £16m man. But to seek out the shirt of Portuguese centre-back Pepe successfully, amid the glare from the galaxy of galacticos spread out across the Anfield pitch as the half-time whistle blew, is something for which Mario Balotelli should perhaps be admired.

He will now be fined by his club. You don’t have to be the most diligent student of Liverpool history to know that to be losing 3-0 at half-time against a giant of the European game doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all over.

Oh, to go back to 1931. To think there actually was a time when the French were so overjoyed at having beaten England at football for the first time – as they did in May of that year – that they asked to keep the Englishmen’s jerseys as mementoes.

It wasn’t until 1954 that there is confirmed evidence of the ritual reappearing at a World Cup. The most famous next example was the one that never happened, when Alf Ramsey prevented his England players exchanging with their Argentinian counterparts after that notorious 1966 quarter-final.

Andre Santos, once of Arsenal, tried to get his hands on Robin van Persie’s Man United jersey on the half-time whistle, back in November 2012, and was never forgiven.

The temptation is to laugh, but get in quickly and the right shirt is quite the investment opportunity. “It is my prized possession, I could never sell it,” said Pele of the white No 6 shirt given to him by Bobby Moore on the pitch in Guadalajara, Mexico 1970.

It sold for £59,750 not long after, and now sits in England’s National Football Museum in Manchester.

Opposite it is the tiny, dark blue short-sleeved number that rose high over Peter Shilton’s head from where its wearer, Maradona, gently handled the ball into the net. The National Museum tries to keep a secret who has lent it to them, perhaps wishing to spare Steve Hodge’s blushes, him being one of at least 30 England outfield players who failed to put in a tackle on the little Argentine a few minutes later. Should he ever sell, the shirt’s value is estimated at more than £250,000.

But arguably the shrewdest operator can still be seen on YouTube. A humble fan who, at the end of a recent Swedish victory over South Korea, talked one of the players into heading over to the stands for a swap. He couldn’t quite believe his luck, particularly as it was a women’s international.