Nike-Made Shirts Have Barcelona Soccer Team Sweaty, Frustrated

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Gustau Nacarino / Reuters

Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates with his team mates after scoring a hat trick in Barcelona September 24, 2011.

One of the biggest names in soccer has a problem with Nike. A heavy, sweaty problem, in fact.

FC Barcelona, the very same European Champion squad that stars Lionel Messi and certainly has claims as the best club in the world, has complained to Nike that the new Dri-FIT shirts result in anything but dry shirts.

Players have even resorted to weighing their threads at halftime, reports Spanish paper El Pais, saying the kit has more than doubled in weight in 45 minutes of sweat. A shirt that weighs seven ounces to start a match balloons up to as much as 16 ounces at halftime.

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Barcelona officials met with Nike, explaining the issues with the claret-and-blue striped shirts and the Oregon-based company says it will test the product and get it fixed (what else are they going to say?).

The special “pitch” shirt uses as many as a dozen recycled plastic water bottles in each shirt combined with Nike’s uniquely designed Dri-FIT material. The product aims to “wick” away sweat from the body, keeping wearers dry.

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Inter Milan all donning the same product, Nike says Barcelona’s the only one complaining, although Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had issues with his gear in the Australian heat in January.

But, don’t fret. As long as you aren’t a Spanish mega-superstar, your gear should work out just fine.

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Tim Newcomb is a contributor for TIME. Find him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.