Out Of This World

The planet’s best player opens up about his life off the pitch

 

Is it easy being Lionel Messi? 

“I’m a normal person who tries to have a family life. Yes, it’s true that I’d like to go unnoticed and have a normal life without everyone watching me from time to time.”

How has the birth of your children changed your family life? 

“It’s a very big change in every respect. You start to see different things, and in a different way. The truth is that being a father is the most beautiful thing that’s happened to me in all my life. In the morning I take Thiago and Mateo to school and when I come back from training I practically leave straight away to pick up Thiago.”

Do the kids ask you to play football with them at home? 

“Thiago is already going to training, but they don’t often ask me to play.”

When you get home, do you talk football with wife Antonella and the children, or are you able to leave that at the door and disconnect completely? 

“We talk very little about football at home. Something very big has to happen at the club or in the national team for it to be a subject at home.”

What do your children ask you? Do they understand who Lionel Messi is?