CHILDHOOD ROMANCE

Messi, one of four children, grew up in a lower-middle-class Rosario locality. Roccuzzo is the cousin of Messi’s close friend and they bonded from a young age. They stayed in touch even after Messi left to play in Spain as a teenager and began their relationship in the late 2000s before Roccuzzo moved to Barcelona. They have two boys — Thiago (4) and Mateo (1).