Federico Ladrón de Guevara
08/15/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
stories
Updated 08/15/2021 6:01 AM
In his farewell to Barcelona, hours after joining PSG in France,
Lionel Messi cried moved
, like a boy whose dream has just been broken
.
Quick reflexes, his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, brought him a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.
Who is that girl with high heels, a square miniskirt and a white jacket, a true Argentine brunette, the faithful companion of the best soccer player in the world?
At first glance, you can see her role as Leo's main supporter, her unconditional support, especially in times of crisis.
But what are the secrets of that love?
How was it born and consolidated?
What dreams do you have to fulfill?
Leo breaks down and Anto gives him a handkerchief.
(@FC Barcelona).
Aged 33 years and 1.57 in height, Antonela comes from a “wealthy middle class” family, explains someone who has known intimacy since when Leo and Anto lived in Rosario.
Anto is "the middle one" of three sisters.
Paula, the oldest, is 35 years old and a lawyer;
Carla, the youngest, 31, is a doctor.
It is clear: if something was not lacking in that house, it was hours of study, a penchant for academics.
“Antonela's father, José, is the owner of the Único supermarket chain, which has seven branches in and around Rosario.
In the middle of the last century, the business had been started by Lele, a paternal grandmother, with a small store in the Urquiza neighborhood ”, continues the same source.
"It is not a neighborhood supermarket or one of the most expensive ... But at this point it is a traditional brand in the area," adds another neighbor who is well aware of the dynamics of the city.
On vacation, and with a fascination for the white sands,
Antonela and her family used to go to Buzios or Florianópolis, in Brazil,
where they enjoyed coconut water and grilled cheese;
they even visited Cuba for a while.
When Paula turned 15, they celebrated it with a trip to Disney, in Orlando, something like the signature of social advancement.
Later, for the same celebration, Antonela preferred a less ambitious plan: a party in the family farm of Roldán, 25 kilometers from Rosario.
Respecting the uniform of a white shirt, Scottish skirt and green socks,
Messi's wife went to the Latin American Educational Center,
a private school in the city.
There he finished the baccalaureate in Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Along with the English school, the Latin American Educational Center is one of the most prestigious institutions in Rosario.
And it has one of the highest quotas ... ”, adds another person who has lived for years a few meters from the Monument to the Flag.
Antonela, pure glamor (AFP).
It is now Wednesday.
It's half past ten in the morning.
Judith Pereyra, who works in the administration of the Latin American Educational Center, says: "Antonela's parents were always very involved in their daughters' activities ... Patricia, the mother, liked to be at all the events."
Judith speaks with emotion and boasts of having been close to a girl who, "for those things in life", became a "celebrity", one of the "most famous women in the world".
And she has a fantasy: someone taking her on a trip to the Eiffel Tower.
José Luis Guida is the director of the secondary school at the same school.
And, at the time, he was Antonela's teacher in Sociology.
"Antonela attended me in the fourth and fifth years," explains José Luis, with no less enthusiasm, ready to evoke details of that time.
“
She was a very responsible student, one of those who raise their hands and participate in class.
In addition, he had very high marks: 10, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9 ... And he got along very well with his classmates ”.
-Did you go on a graduate trip?
-Yes, of course, to Bariloche.
Roccuzzo not only showed off at school: he also stood out as an athlete.
From 8 to 13 years old, she practiced artistic gymnastics in one of the most traditional clubs in the city: Gymnastics and Fencing.
She did it with great discipline, with the fervor that abounds among Olympic athletes: she trained four times a week.
"Antonela was one of the figures of the artistic gymnastics team ..."
, explains Viviana, a partner of Gimnasia y Esgrima for more than two decades.
“I remember it clearly: at 13 she was very similar to what she is today, the same smile, almost the same physique ... Besides gymnastics she liked swimming.
And during the summer season she had a lot of fun with her friends in the pools at the Gymnastics and Fencing headquarters in Parque Independencia ... ”.
-Near the Newell's court, where Messi emerged.
-Yes, they were always close.
Lionel and Antonela, summer 1998, when he was ten and she was nine.
(Courtesy The Capital of Mar del Plata).
How did the romance between them come about?
Who took the first step?
Leo and Anto grew up in the same area, south of Rosario, in the Abanderado Grandoli neighborhood.
More humble, the captain of the Argentine National Team attended elementary school at the public school No. 66 General Las Heras.
The "hook" was made by Lucas Scaglia, Leo's teammate in Newell's Lower and Roccuzzo's cousin.
“The first time Leo and Antonela saw each other was when he was eight years old and they were playing with a group on the banks of the Paraná River.
It is always said that Leo met her and fell in love quickly.
It was a love affair, ”says a Rosario journalist who followed La Pulga's career from its beginnings.
And he elaborates: “In 1998, Messi, barely ten years old, traveled with his friends from Newell's to play some games at Balcarce.
After that, Lucas Scaglia invited him to spend a day with him and his family in Punta Mogotes, in Mar del Plata.
Antonela was there too.
What's more, there is a photo of that moment ... ”.
With the same intensity with which he dribbles rivals, the star thought all the time of "La Negra."
As if that weren't enough, he wrote her "secret letters."
At the age of 11 Messi was detected a "deficiency in growth hormone
.
"
His father, Jorge, wanted to take him to River to take charge of the medical treatment.
In the end, at the age of 13, Leo traveled to Barcelona, stood out in a test, he was signed and little by little he became an emblem of the Catalans.
Of course: he missed Antonela horrors, his friend's cousin.
Meanwhile, she started dating a schoolmate.
But there was an episode that united them forever.
In 2004, in a traffic accident, a great friend of Anto's died.
Leo did not hesitate: he took a plane and traveled to Rosario to give him his support.
They got engaged.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Antonela Roccuzzo (@antonelaroccuzzo)
Messi returned to Barcelona and that year he made his debut in the First Division.
Roccuzzo stayed at his parents' house to continue studying.
He first studied Dentistry at the National University of Rosario and, shortly after, he left it to continue a year of Social Communication.
At first no one knew anything about the romance between Leo and Anto.
Until on July 20, 2007, as part of the celebrations for Friend's Day, the young woman gathered her intimates in her fifth and revealed it.
Anto was very happy, exulting.
And he showed the gift that Messi had given him: a Blackberry phone, the kind that came with tiny keys.
Messi took a little longer to confess his sentimental situation.
In January 2009, on the
Hat Trick Barsa show
, he was asked if he had a girlfriend.
And, blushing, he said yes.
"He is in Argentina," he added, without giving too many details.
In 2010 Antonela settled in Leo's house in the charming Castelldefels neighborhood, half an hour from the center of Barcelona.
In addition to strengthening her abs in the gym, she began taking English classes.
And over the years the children arrived: Thiago (who is now eight years old), Mateo (five) and Ciro (three).
The whole family.
It seems like a story, yes.
A novel that has plenty of sweet sections.
But there were also conflicts, tense moments.
“At first, Roccuzzo's parents were suspicious of Messi's parents.
And vice versa ”, says someone who is aware of the details of the link.
"Roccuzzo's parents wanted their daughter to get a girlfriend with a professional: a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant ... And Messi's parents were suspicious: they didn't know if Antonela was with Leo for love or money ... ”.
The "tension" between both families deepened the times that "negative news" were published
, such as when the Messi were accused of having committed "tax crimes", or when the Rosario Justice ordered José Roccuzzo to compensate with two million pesos to a former supermarket employee, "for harassing the victim in order to make her resign her position."
In the end, as they say, "love triumphed."
And parents, "seeing that their children had genuine feelings," began to build a closer relationship.
Over the years, and "as the cases of insecurity in Rosario increased," Messi's in-laws moved to a closed neighborhood, the Country Miraflores Funes Hills, ten kilometers from the center.
However, they couldn't stop themselves from being mugged.
In 2015, at dawn, a group of hooded men entered his house and, according to police reports, they took "jewelry and thousands of dollars."
Messi's parents were the first to ask for their protection to be strengthened.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Antonela Roccuzzo (@antonelaroccuzzo)
Like the big stars,
Leo and Anto's wedding party was lavish.
It was held on June 30, 2017 at the Hotel City Center in Rosario.
Security was handled by an Israeli company.
There were more than 250 guests and many of them arrived by private plane.
"Thanks to Antonela and Leo and to the people of Rosario for their hospitality," said, for example, Shakira.
Fitted, the design of Antonela's wedding dress was in charge of the Catalan Rosa Clará.
It was a very romantic wedding.
So much so, that Leo's wedding gift consisted of Abel Pintos showing up to sing Antonela's favorite song,
Without beginning or end
.
The press, in general, agreed that the wedding was "magical" and not "frivolous."
As Abel Pintos said, "next to the superfigures of football, such as Kun Agüero or Dani Alves, Aunt Porota danced".
Among other dishes, the guests ate black pudding, chinchulines, Iberian ham and sushi, one of Leo's preferences.
There were also some crosses, it is true.
Some time after the marriage, Antonela put aside her low profile to answer Bárbara Diez, the ex-wife of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the head of the Buenos Aires government.
In her role as wedding planner, Barbara had been hired to organize the party.
But the bond broke shortly before the celebration.
On Mirtha Legrand's program, Diez commented that Leo's father did not agree "with the budgets."
"The separation from the company of Bárbara Diez was our decision and not my father-in-law's. Our wedding was not by exchange.
We paid 100% of the services provided by each supplier,"
Antonela planted.
And he added: "Our wedding was a dream. I would have preferred not to have to clarify anything, least of all two years later, but I had no other alternative."
Messi and Roccuzzo, with Luis Suárez and his wife, Sofía Balbi.
From the soccer environment, Antonela is a good friend of Daniella Semaan and Sofía Balbi, women of Cesc Fabregas and Luis Suárez.
Moreover, with Balbi, Roccuzzo ran a Ricky Sarkany brand franchise in Barcelona.
It was two years, from 2017 to 2019. The place, located on the elegant Avenida Diagonal, was set up by Sofía Sarkany, daughter of the businessman who died this year.
In the end, the business was closed because it was losing: the balance in red was about 150,000 euros.
"Messi and Suárez supported their women at all times," remarked Sarkany, who was very good at the publicity that such idols gave him.
What was the agreement like?
Ricky did not charge them anything for the use of the brand.
“We feel benefited because they have chosen us and that is why we gave them preferential attention.
They bought the shoes as if they were in Vicente López or Villa Martelli, "he added.
After that truncated project, Antonela continued to be linked to the world of "fashion".
Associated with her sister Paula, she ran Enfans, a children's clothing company, whose "models" are the children of Martín Demichelis and Evangelina Anderson.
These days, with Messi's move to PSG, Anto received many loving messages from his friends.
"You do not know how bad you are going to do me ... But the distance will not be an obstacle. We love you very much, family," Elena Galera, the wife of Sergio Busquets, Barcelona midfielder, dedicated to him.
"Welcome, beautiful," wrote, in turn, Rafaella, Neymar's sister, on her Instagram account.
There are not a few who consider Messi's wife as the "anti-botinera", a woman without divisms, who never gave an interview and if she has something, it is her "family" profile.
The great "uncorking" can be given on the Messi's holidays in Ibiza, where yacht rides and parties in fashionable clubs are not lacking.
Antonela, encouraging Leo.
"You were given what you dreamed of so much," Roccuzzo wrote after Argentina's triumph in the Copa América.
It was a confirmation:
most of his "appearances" are to support his partner.
With the same spirit, and although it was difficult for her to assimilate the idea of leaving her home in Barcelona, Antonela did not hesitate to put a good face on the project of settling in Paris and assess its advantages, which are many.
"As the saying goes, what does not kill us strengthens us ... We go anywhere together, but always forward. I love you, my love," he said.
Messi, Roccuzzo and the three boys stayed the first days in France at Le Royal Monceau, a luxurious five-star hotel located meters from the Champs Elysées avenue.
Antonela's idea, however, is for the family to move shortly to a house next to the Seine
, in Bougival, a “petit” town of 9,000 inhabitants.
A paradise 12 kilometers from the PSG training center where lush vegetation abounds and where, at the time, great French artists such as Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir lived.
"Who tells you ...", closes another person who knows the interests of the family. "Leo is sweet ... He has just won the Copa América with a great triumph at Maracana ... He left behind the problems that he had been dragging for a long time in Barcelona. Perhaps in Paris the couple can fulfill their great desire:
for the fourth child to arrive and be a girl ”.