Lionel Messi’s wife shared a heartfelt message for the soccer icon after he delivered another landmark performance on Monday.
The Argentine star etched his name into World Cup history during Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria in their Group J meeting in Dallas.
Messi, 38, became the tournament’s all-time leading goalscorer after opening the scoring with a superb curling finish against Austria.
The Inter Miami forward reached the milestone with his family watching from the stands, as his wife Antonela and their three sons — Thiago, 13, Mateo, 10, and Ciro, 8 — were all present at Dallas Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Antonela, who married the 2022 World Cup winner in 2017, marked the achievement with an emotional post on Instagram.
“What a privilege to see you make history again and again,” she wrote. “I love you @leomessi.”
Lionel Messi’s wife shared a touching message for the soccer superstar on Monday
The forward became the all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup with his opening goal
His wife Antonela celebrated the historic performance with a sweet Instagram post
She shared a series of photos of herself and their sons all sporting matching Messi No. 10 Argentina away jerseys with the Dallas Stadium pitch in the background.
She also shared a couple of photos of herself posing in a VIP suite, showing off her husband’s surname on the back of her jersey.
Antonela may have been generally known as the supportive wife of a legendary football player from 2017, but she has since established her own path as a successful businesswoman.
Today she’s a philanthropist, a multi-millionaire influencer, a children’s fashion label owner and a model – having worked with several fitness brands and companies including Adidas and Stella McCartney.
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She had also initially intended to pursue a career in dentistry, though she gave that up to be at the Argentina striker’s side as he started his journey via Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and now Inter Miami to become one of the world’s richest and finest footballers.
Messi married his gorgeous wife in a glitzy wedding in their hometown of Rosario on June 30, 2017.
The couple share their three children. In 2012, five years before they tied the knot, their eldest son Thiago was born, followed by Mateo in 2015. The youngest son, Ciro, was born in 2018.
Messi had entered Monday’s match level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 goals, following his hattrick in Argentina’s tournament opener against Algeria.
She shared a series of photos of herself and their sons – Thiago, 13, Matteo, 10, and Ciro, 8, – all sporting matching Messi Aregtnina away jerseys at Dallas Stadium
She also shared a photo of herself posing in a VIP suite, showing off her husband’s surname
He had missed an early chance to break the outright record after sending a penalty wide of the target after nine minutes.
Messi would not require long to achieve the landmark, as the Argentina captain finished off a flowing move from the holders.
Messi swept home with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area after Thiago Almada had intelligently dummied Facundo Medina’s cross.
Messi also became just the third player to score in six consecutive World Cup matches after France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho, who did so in 1958 and 1970 respectively.
The Argentina captain extended his record to 18 goals in second half stoppage time.
Messi initially looked to provide an assist for Julian Alvarez, who saw his effort denied by Austria’s goalkeeper.
After the ball came back loose, it was fed back to Messi who rounded Austria’s goalkeeper before seeing an effort blocked by a defender.
Messi regained possession on the rebound and slotted into the net to seal a 2-0 victory for Argentina.
