Messi is admired by millions of people around the world, but rarely gets support from his three “weird” children.

Antonella and Messi are a beautiful couple in the world of football. Together they have written a wonderful fairy tale for their love.

Their love story began in 1996, when Messi was only 9 years old and a promising young player at Oldell’s Old Boys.

At that time, Antonella was only 8 years old, a rich young lady and a neighbor living on the same street as him. It was through Antonella’s cousin that the couple met.

In 2012, the couple welcomed their first child, Thiago. Three years later, they welcomed their second son, Mateo, and a year later, their son, Ciro, was born.

Son is a “hardcore anti-fan” of Messi

In 2021, Lionel Messi held a press conference at Camp Nou to say goodbye to Barcelona and the club’s fans.

As soon as he entered the auditorium, the Argentine superstar could not control his emotions and burst into tears. In the midst of that emotional scene, the camera accidentally captured a “precious” moment from Messi’s family. While M10 was wiping away his tears, his youngest son Ciro sat down below, looking around and smiling smugly.

In the same year, Messi won the prestigious Ballon d’Or for the 7th time. When asked “How did my father play at the Copa America?”, Mateo did not hesitate to answer, “Very bad.”

Mateo often gives his father headaches. Photo: BI

Although his father is a football superstar admired by millions, the eldest son Thiago is a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo – his father’s arch-rival. In addition, this boy also idolizes many other players such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

“He asked a lot about Luis Suarez – our close friend, about Antoine Griezmann or Arturo Vidal since the first day he saw his impressive hair. In addition, Thiago is a fan of Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar too. Thiago really likes to ask about them,” Messi said.

Whenever Messi plays poorly or Barca loses a match, the eldest and second sons will join together to tease and criticize their famous father. Mateo is known as a true anti-fan of the Catalan team.

During a match between Barca and Real Betis, M10 was injured and could not play, but sat in the stands with his family to watch. When the opponent scored against Barca, the boy shouted with joy, cheering with excitement, despite his father and colleagues being extremely disappointed.

Most recently, when the 35-year-old football star and his teammates won the 2022 World Cup, the photo of Mateo Messi “fainting” in the stands spread rapidly on social media.

Dad is a world champion but I don’t want to follow in his footsteps.

In 2016, Messi revealed some details about his personal life. According to him, his son Thiago, despite witnessing his father’s exploits on the pitch every week, still had little inspiration for the king of sports.

“I don’t usually buy balls home or make Thiago play football because he doesn’t seem to enjoy it very much,” Messi shared.

M10 gives children the freedom to do what they like. Photo: Sport

Messi once revealed that he really wanted his sons to follow in his footsteps and planned to register his eldest son Thiago to train with the PSG U.10 team, while Mateo joined the U.7 team. However, Messi absolutely does not force his children to train every day, but only creates the best conditions for them to develop their talents, as well as let them decide their own future careers.

Although he really wants his children to follow his career, Messi does not impose or restrict his three sons into any framework. He always wants his children to develop instinctively, to develop their inherent abilities as children. That is why people rarely see M10 sharing pictures or videos of him practicing sports with his son. Instead, fans always see the frames of the Barcelona striker’s whole family happily together.

Passionate about “teasing” but also very emotional at times

Despite teasing their father, Messi’s children still have special affection for their “hero”. At the 2022 World Cup, the three boys and their mother were present at the stadium to cheer on Messi and his teammates from the very first matches. The image of the four mother and children appearing in the stands received much love from fans.

In Argentina’s 1-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia on November 21, little Mateo also caught attention when he burst into tears. Messi shared after Argentina’s victory over Mexico on November 27: “After the first match, Mateo left the field in tears. Thiago calculated and explained to him that if we won the remaining two matches, we would advance to the next round.”

Letter from the “eldest son”. Photo: Antonella Roccuzzo

Most notably, before the historic final, Messi’s wife posted a handwritten letter from Thiago Messi.

In the letter, Thiago wrote: “I was born in Argentina, the land of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. I will never forget the finals we lost. I cried too much over the years. But the pain at Maracana is over, the Argentina team won the Copa America after defeating Brazil.

Now we are hungry for victory again. The Argentina team wants to be world champions. We can see Maradona from heaven. He always cheers for Messi.”

The impressive move of Messi’s eldest son received a lot of compliments from the online community. Many people shared the same opinion that Thiago is very warm and mature.

It can be said that Messi’s three sons have been educated very carefully. Thanks to that, the boys receive special love from fans around the world.