Striking

Footballer Lionel Messi said “I do” to childhood sweetheart and mother of their two children Antonella Roccuzzo on Friday in his Argentine home town of Rosario, where players and celebrities gathered for the “wedding of the century”.

Following the private ceremony, the couple appeared happy and relaxed as they walked a red carpet before hundreds of journalists at a hotel and casino complex, Roccuzzo donning a tight, mermaid-style gown by Spanish designer Rosa Clara.

The couple’s children Thiago, four, and Mateo, one, had front-row seats at the ceremony attended by some 260 guests, including singer Shakira and her husband, Messi’s teammate Gerard Piqué, and Barcelona strike partners Neymar and Luis Suárez. Rosario is a gritty river port where Messi, 30, and his bride, 29, met when the player was nine years old. The wedding was held in the City Centre casino, which stands right next to a crime-ridden slum run by drug gangs.