Lionel Messi - Early Life

Messi’s childhood home was in Rosario, Santa Fe.

Lionel Messi was born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe. He is the third of four children of Jorge Messi, a steel factory manager, and his wife Celia Cuccittini. Messi worked in a magnet manufacturing workshop.

On his father's side, he is of Italian and Spanish descent, the great-grandson of immigrants from the north-central Adriatic Marche region of Italy. On his mother's side, he is primarily of Italian ancestry.

Raised in a close-knit, football-loving family, "Leo" developed a passion for the game from a young age, regularly playing with his older brothers Rodrigo and Matías, and his cousins Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom later became professional footballers.

At the age of four, he joined the local club Grandoli, where his father coached him, although his first real influence as a player came from his grandmother Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches.

Her death shortly before his eleventh birthday deeply affected him; since then, as a devout Catholic, he has paid tribute to her by looking up to the sky and pointing after scoring goals.

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