Lionel Messi started his FIFA World Cup campaign with a bang last night, bagging a hat-trick against Algeria. But how much do you know about the Argentina star?
The FIFA World Cup 2026 saw its stars come out to play yesterday, with Killian Mbappe scoring twice in France’s win over Senegal, Erling Haaland also getting a double for Norway against Iraq, but they were both trumped by Lionel Messi, who grabbed three goals in Argentina’s win over Iraq.
Lionel’s hat-trick has silenced his doubters who had reckoned that, at nearly 39 years of age, he might only have a bit-part to play in Argentina’s defence of its World Cup crown. He has made it clear that he will be front an centre in the coming weeks.
His three goals has also drew him level with Germany legend Miroslav Klose in the all-time top goalscorers at the World Cup finals with 16 goals, although Lionel has played three games more than his rival to reach the mark.
But how much do you know about Lionel Messi? Here are some facts you may not know about him.
He is named after a singer
Lionel’s full name is Lionel Andres Messi. If you’re thinking that Lionel is not the most common name in Argentina, you’d be right. However, there is a reason he has that name – his mother’s favourite singer was Lionel Ritchie, famous for songs such as ‘Hello’ and ‘All Night Long’.
A childhood condition almost ended his career before it started
While Lionel’s footballing talent was clear from an early age – he joined local side Newell’s Old Boys aged just seven – a childhood condition nearly saw his ambition to play professional football thwarted.
Aged 10, Lionel was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, which meant he wasn’t growing as expected. There was medical treatment for this, but is was costly in Argentina, and his parents struggled to afford the costs. Fortunately, Spanish giants Barcelona had become aware of his talent, and stepped in to bring him to Spain where they covered the cost of his treatment.
He and his wife met as children
Lionel is known for being a family man who doesn’t seek out the celebrity limelight. Part of that is he has a settled home life – he has been married to Antonela Roccuzzo for many years. The pair met as children back in their hometown of Rosario. Today, they have three sons, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro.
His first contract was written on a napkin
As mentioned, Barcelona signed Messi when he was still a child. But his first agreement – or at least an initial draft of it – was written on a napkin. Lionel and his family met with Barcelona’s then sporting director, Carles Rexach, over lunch, and he wrote the basis of a deal on a napkin, to give Lionel’s father reassurance that a formal contract offer would be forthcoming.
In 2024, that napkin was sold at auction for a mind-boggling $965,000.
He has a unique World Cup record
Lionel has all sorts of footballing records to his name – such as having the most assists of all time – but he has a unique one in the World Cup finals: the only player to ever since the Golden Ball twice. The Golden Ball is given to the player adjudged to be the best player in the finals tournament, and Lionel has won it at the end of the 2014 and 2022 editions, held in Brazil and Qatar respectively, demonstrating his impact on the side and on tournaments.
He holds an Instagram record
As mentioned, Lionel holds all sorts of footballing records, but he also has a social media record too.
Back in 2022, Lionel put a carousel of images celebrating Argentina’s World Cup win on Instagram and it quickly went viral and ended up being liked more than 74 million times – a record for the platform. The previous record was held by – of all things – an image of a plain egg.
