Lionel Messi always points to the sky when scoring a goal because he is grateful to his grandmother.
Every time he scores a goal, Argentine superstar Lionel Messi often points to the sky. His fans often joke that this gesture implies that “the sky is the limit for Messi”. In reality, the captain of the Argentine national team has a specific reason behind his gesture of pointing to the sky.
He once explained that the gesture was a tribute to his late grandmother, Celia Olivera Cuccittini, who passed away when Messi was 11.
Lionel Messi always points to the sky when scoring a goal out of gratitude to his grandmother (Photo: Goal).
Messi once confided: “When I made the gesture of pointing to the sky, that was when I wanted to dedicate the goal to my grandmother. She brought me to football, but now, she cannot see how far I have come. However, I believe that she is still watching and helping me and my family.”
His grandmother played a huge role in Messi’s life. He once said: “My grandmother and I often went to local clubs together to watch semi- professional football matches . My whole family often went to watch these matches because my brothers and cousins would play. They played in teams of different age levels.
I was the youngest and smallest in the family, so I usually just went to watch my brothers play without joining any club. But then at a match that my grandmother and I went to watch, when she saw that a team was missing a player, my grandmother immediately went out and told the manager of that club to let me play.
The manager initially refused, thinking that I was too small and too young to be able to play. However, my grandmother insisted that I could play well and that they should try to let me play. My grandmother was already known, loved and respected by everyone. Seeing her insistence, they were hesitant at first, but eventually gave in and tried to let me play.
People in the city of Rosario (Argentina) call what happened next “the history of football”, because from that day on, the football talent of the boy Lionel Messi began to be known locally.
Messi’s familiar goal celebration gesture (Photo: Talk Sport).
When analyzing Lionel Messi’s biography, people always have to mention his grandmother. Messi’s whole family loves football, he played football with his brothers and cousins from a very young age. At the age of 4, Messi started to learn football by his father. But it was his grandmother who had the greatest influence on Messi.
Mrs. Celia took her grandson to training sessions, took him to watch football matches with his brothers and cousins, and then found opportunities for him to go out on the field and test his skills against players who were older and physically superior to him… It was from here that Messi’s talent was revealed.
The passing of his grandmother just before Messi turned 11 was a huge shock to him as a teenager. He loved her very much and since her death, young Messi has started to have the habit of looking up and pointing to the sky every time he scores a goal as a way to remember his beloved grandmother.
Mother’s face is the only tattoo that appears on Lionel Messi’s back
Messi has a tattoo of his mother’s face on his left back, on the side with the heart, meaning that his mother is his trusted support throughout his life. The tattoo of his mother’s face – Mrs. Celia Maria Cuccittini – is the first tattoo Messi has done, this tattoo shows the love he has for the person who gave birth to and raised him.
The tattoo was first revealed in 2011, when he was on vacation shirtless on a yacht. Messi has been away from home since he was 13 to pursue his football career, and the distance between them has always been a reason why Messi and his mother cannot see each other often, so Messi wanted a special way to express his love for his mother.
In January 2011, Lionel Messi was fined 2,000 euros (equivalent to more than 50 million VND) after scoring for Barcelona in a match against Racing de Santander.
The tattoo of his mother’s face – Celia Maria Cuccittini – is the first tattoo Messi got (Photo: Goal).
The reason is that Lionel Messi wanted to dedicate this goal to his mother and he expressed that message by pulling up his shirt, revealing a message in Spanish that he had written on the shirt inside. The content of this message was “Happy Birthday Mom”.
The loyal and lasting love that Lionel Messi has for his wife he met when he was… 5 years old
Every tattoo that Messi has has a meaning, he especially dedicates many tattoos to show his love for his wife.
Messi has a crown tattoo on his right bicep, both Messi and his wife have crown tattoos on their arms. The meaning of this tattoo is to talk about the love they have for each other: Antonella is Messi’s queen, Messi is Antonella’s king, for each other, they are number one, the most important.
Next to the crown tattoo is an image of an eye, meaning that Antonella’s eyes – Messi’s wife – will always follow every step of his journey.
On his right leg, Messi has tattoos of his wife’s and three sons’ birth dates. Near his left hip, Messi has a tattoo of red lips symbolizing a kiss from his wife.
Lionel Messi and his wife – Antonela Roccuzzo (34 years old) met and fell in love with each other when they were two children, at that time, Messi was only 5 years old, Antonela was 4 years old. Later, Antonela became the housewife with Messi to build a brand image worth billions of dollars, contributing to helping him become truly rich from his successful football career.
The love between Messi and Antonela is a “childhood sweetheart” love. They have been married since 2017, but the two started building a romantic relationship since 2008. Currently, the two have 3 sons. Antonela is always there to support Messi to play with peace of mind, she not only takes care of her family but is also very active in charity activities.
On social media, Antonela is an influential figure with nearly 24 million followers. Not only that, she is also a fashion designer with her own very popular fashion brand.
Lionel Messi with his family (Photo: Daily Mail).
Antonela initially studied to become a dentist, but after deciding to start a family with Messi, she had to put her own career on hold to support Messi as much as possible. This required Antonela to shoulder many household responsibilities, always ready to travel with her husband to accompany and cheer him on in his career as a successful international player.
Messi is the football player with the most popular image brand in the international market today. Currently, his assets are around 600 million USD, he belongs to the group of richest football players in the world.
It has been nearly 30 years since Antonela first met Messi, and now the couple’s lives have changed a lot from their humble beginnings. They own many villas in different countries, such as Barcelona and Ibiza (Spain), Miami (USA), Rosario (Argentina)…
However, Antonela’s lifestyle is considered simple and discreet. She is not the type of wife of a famous football player who likes to show off, party, shop… Messi’s love is different from most other football players’ love stories. He is loved by fans both for his football talent and for being a family man, loyal and responsible.
Antonela is the cousin of footballer Lucas Scaglia – a childhood friend of Messi. From the first time he met Antonela at Lucas’s house, Messi paid special attention to the girl who was one year younger than him.
Every time Antonela came to Lucas’s house, little Messi would stop by and try to impress her. Messi wrote Antonela letters expressing his feelings. When he was a child, little Messi wrote a “love letter” to Antonela, asking her to agree to be his girlfriend when they grew up.
As a teenager, Antonela continued to stay in touch with Messi, often going to watch her cousin and Messi play football in youth teams. After Messi’s football career took off and he moved to Barcelona at the age of 13, Messi kept in touch with Antonela.
5 years later, an incident happened, Antonela’s best friend passed away in a traffic accident, Messi heard the news and felt worried for Antonela so he immediately returned to Argentina to visit her.
As they reached adulthood, Messi and Antonela realized that they really wanted to start a relationship, even though they would be thousands of miles apart. Despite loving Messi, Antonela did not neglect her studies and career orientation.
She attended college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in humanities and sociology from the National University of Rosario. After graduating, Antonela also studied dentistry. But then love forced her to change all her plans.
Messi has a happy family life (Photo: Daily Mail).
When deciding to commit, Antonela moved to Barcelona to be able to accompany Messi, ending the days of long-distance love, she put aside her own plans, to become a solid support for her future husband.
In 2012, their first son, Thiago, was born. Their second son, Mateo, was born in 2015. In 2017, Messi and Antonela officially got married. A year later, the couple welcomed their son, Ciro.
When talking about his wife, Messi always has words of respect: “She has many good qualities with outstanding advantages. The way she handles daily tasks, her personality, her always balanced and very positive emotional state…, all make me feel admiration.
She always faces problems in a very instructive way. My wife is an intelligent person and has always been excellent in my eyes in every aspect of life.”
