Victor Valdes has revealed he snubbed the chance to take over the Barcelona captaincy during the recent 2-2 draw with Athletico Bilbao because his arms were too big.

The Spanish goalkeeper, who is expected to leave the club in the summer after announcing he would not be signing a new contract, was the next in line to take the armband from Xavi after the midfielder was replaced by Lionel Messi in the 58th minute.

With Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta not on the field, the armband was handed to Thiago Alcantara to pass down to Valdes, but the shot-stopper surprisingly shunned the responsibility, meaning Messi had to stand in as skipper.

Valdes drew a host of criticism on social network sites for his apparent snub, but the 31-year-old moved to clarify his actions on Twitter, citing his bulging biceps as the reason behind the rejection.

‘The assignment of the captain’s armband to Messi during yesterday’s game was for no other reason than because of a problem with size,’ said the goalkeeper.

‘By not being able to adjust comfortably to my arm I decided to transfer it during the match.’