Little did Antonela Roccuzzo know that when she met a young boy who dreamed of being a footballer when she was just five years old, she would be cheering on the best player on the planet in the 2022 World Cup final .
She also had no idea that she would become the mastermind behind Lionel Messi’s billion dollar brand that eclipses all others, including David and Victoria Beckham and even his longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo and his fiancee Georgina Rodriguez.
Nor that along the way she would become perhaps the most famous woman in South America. Today, she is a philanthropist, multi-millionaire influencer, owner of a children’s fashion brand and animal lover.
She is also a dentist, although she gave that up to be alongside the Argentine striker as he began his journey via Barcelona and now Paris Saint-Germain to become the richest and best footballer in the world.
Almost 30 years after first meeting Messi, Antonela – mother of the superstar’s three sons – hopes the 35-year-old can lead Argentina to victory against defending champions France in Qatar today.
It would seal the perfect end to her glorious career, securing her the only honor left in the game. Those who know Antonela, 34, say she is “humble, modest and appreciates nothing more than being home with her boys and her two beloved dogs.”
There are, of course, several houses. They include a £10million mansion just outside Barcelona with views of the stunning Catalan hills and Mediterranean coast.
There are others in Ibiza, Miami and their hometown of Rosario in Argentina. There they have a house called La Fortress with 25 rooms, including a playroom for sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro.
This is, according to friends, where Messi’s plan to retire. And it would take the beautiful couple back to meeting her in 1993, when their fairytale romance began.
Because their love story, especially compared to that of most footballers who tend to meet their WAGs in garish nightclubs or on social media, is just that.
Antonela is the cousin of Messi’s childhood friend Lucas Scagilia.
In the early 90s, when the future footballer first saw her, he asked, “Who is she?” “Antonela, my cousin,” Scagilia answered.
According to Scagilia’s father, Messi “couldn’t look away for a second”. She visited the neighborhood for two days and Messi immediately knew he wanted to be with her forever.
Every time she stayed at Scagilia’s, Messi found an excuse to visit her in hopes of getting a glimpse of her.
Often it would be the weekend. He wrote her love letters and told her that when they both grew up, she would be his girlfriend.
They stayed in touch, with Antonela going to watch Messi and his cousin play for club Newell’s Old Boys in their youth.
As his career blossomed, Messi moved to Barcelona aged 13, but the duo stayed in touch.
Five years later, tragedy brought them back together. Antonela was devastated when her best friend Ursula Notz died in a car accident. Messi was so concerned about his childhood crush that he returned to Argentina to comfort her.
They realized then that they wanted to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Yet there were thousands of miles between them because the ambitious Antonela, then 18, didn’t want to be a WAG archetype.
She obtained a degree in Humanities and Social Sciences from the National University of Rosario, then began postgraduate studies in dentistry. But love eventually won out.
Antonela made the heartbreaking decision to end his career and move to Barcelona two years after their relationship became known.
During the Hat Trick Barca football chat show on Catalan channel TV3 in January 2009, Messi was asked if he was in a relationship.
He replied, ‘Yes, I have a girlfriend. She is in Argentina. The truth is that I’m fine and relaxed.
A few months later, the couple went public at a carnival in Sitges after the big local BarcelonaEspanyol derby.
In 2012 Thiago was born, followed by Mateo in 2015. And in 2017 – 25 years after they first met – Antonela finally became Ms Messi when they married in a luxury hotel in their hometown of Rosario.
It was described as Argentina’s ‘wedding of the century’ and had 260 guests, including footballers Neymar, Luis Suárez and Gerard Piqué, who arrived in Rosario on a private jet with his partner at the time, Colombian pop star Shakira.
The bride wore a Rosa Clara dress, a Barcelona designer who has dressed actress Eva Longoria and Queen Letizia of Spain.
A year later, the couple had another son, Ciro. Their clan also includes two dogs, a French mastiff named Señor Hulk and a more shy cockapoo named Abu.
Messi says of his wife: “She has a lot of good qualities: how she does on a daily basis; her personality, she is always in a good mood, and she always deals with problems in an admirable way.
“He is a very intelligent person who excels in all aspects of life.”
Despite her wealth, Antonela does not spend her days shopping for designer clothes.
She volunteered at the SJD Hospital in Barcelona this summer.
The couple also donated their wedding scraps to the Rosario Food Bank. While her husband rakes in £94m over three years playing for Paris Saint-Germain, Antonela earns her own millions as a social media influencer.
Companies are rushing to hire him to plug their products in exchange for a huge paycheck.
They include Alo yoga wear, Dolce & Gabbana, Guerlain, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
But on Sunday afternoon, when Messi lines up at Doha’s Lusail Stadium, his billion-dollar bank balance will pale into insignificance as he plays to fulfill another childhood dream – lifting the highest trophy ever. wanted from world football.
