Moments between Messi and his little boys could melt your heart

The famous soccer player and his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, have three sons together named Mateo, Thiago, and Ciro.

Lionel Messi’s sons Mateo, Thiago, and Ciro were in attendance during the 2022 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and France. Throughout the match, Lionel Messi helped Argentina secure a victory, and his boys cheered him on.

The famous soccer player, who had scored two goals during the tense game, had a touching moment with two of his children after the game when his sons gave him a hug while they were wearing jerseys that bore their father’s name and number (10) on the back. During the game, the famous soccer player had scored two goals. They were shortly joined by their younger brother as well as their mother, Antonella Roccuzzo, who afterwards tweeted a number of endearing images from the celebration of the family.

Roccuzzo accompanied a collection of photographs that featured herself, Messi, and their three sons with the phrase “I don’t even know how to start.” “What an incredible sense of pride we have in you, @leomessi We are grateful that you showed us that we should never give up and that we should fιght for what we want till the very end. IT WAS FINALLY DONE YOU ARE A WORLD CHAMPION, and we know what you had to go through for so many years in order to get to this point!!!”

In 2012, Messi and Roccuzzo became parents to their first child, Thiago. The two had known one other since they were children and reconnected in 2005. Their second son, Mateo, was born in 2015, and their third son, Ciro, came along three years later in 2018.

The athlete later told FC Barcelona that fatherhood changed his entire perspective. “You grow and you learn,” he said in 2017. “You gather experience in all aspects of life, on and off the field. But, as a human being, having three children changed my perspective on life, my way of thinking and it also helped me grow.”

Though this was not Messi’s first World Cup appearance, he told reporters that the experience was even more special because his boys are old enough to “enjoy it more.”

“From the very beginning, from kick-off to the final whistle, I’m thinking of my children,” he said after defeating Australia in the round of 16, per The Athletic. “They’re growing older. They understand better what’s going on and they enjoy it more.”

Although though Messi has stated that he wants his sons to “do what makes them happy,” regardless of whether or not that includes playing soccer, it is abundantly evident that his sons are already following in their talented father’s footsteps. Not only have Thiago, Mateo, and Ciro spent a significant portion of their childhoods on the field, rooting for Messi while he played, but all three of the boys are on the verge of becoming prominent soccer players in their own right.

Both Thiago and Mateo joined the Paris Saint-Germain youth soccer program shortly after Messi’s signing with the Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, which was also the year that he and Roccuzzo relocated their family to France. The finest education for the boys, though, will most likely come from their father, as Messi frequently posts videos online showing him and his sons engaging in exhibition games.

The following provides information regarding the three sons that Lionel Messi has with Antonella Roccuzzo.

Messi and Roccuzzo became parents for the first time on Nov. 2, 2012, when they welcomed their son Thiago. Shortly after his birth, Messi showed off his love for his young son in a permanent fashion by getting the newborn’s name and handprints tattooed on his calf.

Messi has been open about the impact Thiago had on his life, telling El Periódico in 2013, “My son has changed my life more than the Ballon d’Or [awards] have.”

The soccer star also explained that his priorities shifted after becoming a father: “When I look at life, think about each moment, when I analyze every situation … Now everything is different.”

Despite Messi’s high-profile career, his life off the field looks like that of any other parent, as he wrote in a 2016 essay for Sports Illustrated .

“A typical day involves taking Thiago to school, going to training, hаnging out at home drinking maté and spending time with Anto and the kids at the park or somewhere,” he described. “It’s a normal, calm life, the kind of life we have always wanted.​”

Thiago, who is now 10 years old, got his start in soccer at a young age and was a part of Barcelona’s academy when Messi was still playing for the club. Messi was with Barcelona from 2004 until 2021. Back in February in the year 2020, a video of Thiago scoring a goal during his first match with the squad quickly went viral, and fans quickly began praising him as a promising young talent. Thiago and his brothers had no trouble adjusting to their new life in Paris, as Messi mentioned in an interview that took place in October 2022. Thiago is presently playing for the Paris Saint-Germain academy, and Messi mentioned it in the interview.

“The boys are the ones who adapted the best. It was what worried us the most and it was the easiest of all,” he said in Spanish.

As shown on his mother’s Instagram account, Thiago sent a heartfelt message of encouragement and support for his father, Messi, by penning down the lyrics to “Muchachos Ahora Nos Volvimos an Ilusionar.” This was done in anticipation of Messi winning the World Cup. According to ESPN, Messi considers the song to be one of his all-time favorites, and it has since evolved into the unofficial national anthem of Argentina during the World Cup.

Messi and Roccuzzo welcomed their second child, Mateo, on Sept. 11, 2015.

“Mateo is very special, he’s always doing new things, things that grab your attention,” Messi said of his middle son in a 2019 interview.

And although the soccer star calls Thiago the “quiet” brother, Mateo, according to Messi, is competitive like him. Messi told Argentian journalist Sebastián Vignolo that Mateo is similar to him in that he dislikes losing anything.

Even though Mateo likes to win, Messi doesn’t always give his sons an easy victory when they play soccer together. In a comical video Roccuzzo shared on Instagram in April 2022, she had to tell him to “let the kids win.”

Mateo’s will to succeed also extends to his father’s soccer career. Reporters were told by the athlete that Mateo sobbed as he left the stadium following Messi and his team’s devastating defeat to Saudi Arabia in November. The same as all Argentines, “my family suffers, but we are happy and we are comfortable again,” he stated. “Now our progress rests on us.”

In honor of Mateo’s seventh birthday in September, Roccuzzo posted a sweet tribute on Instagram, describing her son as the jokester of the family. “Crazy beautiful, with your batteries and energy recharged, always making us diҽ of laughter,” she wrote in Spanish along with a few snaps of Mateo, including one of him standing in front of a soccer net.

On March 10, 2018, Ciro, Messi and Roccuzzo’s third child, was born.

Both his father and mother have ink on their bodies that is specifically inked for their youngest child; Messi has “Ciro” inked on his calf along with his brother’s names, while Roccuzzo has “Ciro” inked on her arm.

Ciro is still developing his personality, according to Messi. He is, however, already exhibiting traits from his older sibling. Messi claimed in October 2022 that “he copies Mateo a lot, and they often play against me.”

Messi told Sports Illustrated that the births of his three sons were “life-changing” when Ciro was only eight months old. In an essay for the publication, he stated, “I’m ecstatic about the family we have been able to create.

However, there was one important goal he was still striving to achieve at the time: “Of course, outside of my family nothing would make me happier than to win my first World Cup with Argentina in 2018,” he wrote.

Just four years later, he would go on to celebrate his first World Cup victory — with all three of his sons by his side.

On March 10, 2023, Roccuzzo marked the boy’s 5th birthday with a sweet Instagram post. She shared one recent photo of Ciro wearing a #10 soccer jersey, as well as a throwback snap of him as a baby. “Para siempre nuestro Bebé,” she wrote in the caption, which translates to “Forever our baby.”

Here are the emotional moments between Messi and his little boys: