Childhood Friends to Lovers – Lionel Messi & Antonella Roccuzzo

From being from the same hometown, becoming sweethearts and subsequently soccer fraternity’s power couple; Messi and Antonella’s picturesque story epitomizes what true unconditional love resembles and makes us believe in the power of luck.

The Argentinian professional football player and the model cum influencer have known each other since they were quite young as children, and the alleged romance blossomed when they reconnected as adults many years later.

This dreamy tale saw its light when Antonella met Messi as a young shy girl about 8-9 years old, in their hometown of Rosario in Argentina. There was a common connection between them – Roccuzzo’s cousin, and Messi’s good friend Lucas, who played alongside him in a youth team. He used to write letters to her, expressing his dreams of their bright future together – a gesture that made Antonella fall for him too.

Since the moment Messi met his now wife, he was enchanted by her mesmerizing beauty and has decided to pursue her down. While they knew each other as children, they spent their teen years apart when Messi went to Spain to focus on his professional soccer career with F.C. Barcelona. Their long-distance separation did create a temporary communication gap for a few years.

Public Declaration of Love in 2009 

Messi and Roccuzzo reconnected as adults many years later in the early 2000s when apparently Roccuzzo was going through a difficult time in her personal life and Messi came down to lend a shoulder of support to her.

While they kept their relationship out of the public eye during that time, Messi later himself confirmed in a 2009 media interview with a soccer show that he was indeed in a steady and happy relationship. By 2010, they were surely confirmed as a much-in love couple, with photos of the pair on a vacation together sending the social media followers into a frenzy.

They transitioned from childhood friends to lovers as they navigated life’s challenges together and by 2012, she moved to Spain to start living with Messi.

The adorable duo has always shelled out major couple goals, showing immense support for each other and being the perfect cheerleaders professionally and personally. They welcomed two boys Thiago (in 2012) and Mateo (in 2015) respectively.

Messi and Antonella entered into a beautiful alliance by tying the knot in 2017 in their hometown Rosario itself. Theirs was touted by the western media as the ‘wedding of the century’; looked like a complete star-studded and an epic affair from the pictures released online.

The couple’s third son Ciro was born in 2018. Both of the doting parents keep sharing glimpses of their personal family time amidst their busy schedules and setting benchmark for being a ten-on-ten father, husband and player all rolled into one.

Till date, Messi has clinched eight prestigious Ballon d’Or trophies to his name, the most won by any soccer player in the history of the sport and has earned dozens of other honours, including a record-breaking six European Golden Shoes.

Considered as one of the most iconic couples of modern footballs, Messi and Roccuzzo aptly describe what relationships are based on – loyalty, trust and pure love. Roccuzzo works as a social media influencer and model, with a massive Instagram following of almost 40 million followers to her name.

Looking at the couple together, it can be said that real love has no endings; it only gets stronger with time.