Lionel Messi has expressed his gratitude to supporters for the love shown to him and his family during what he described as an “incredibly painful time” following the death of his father, Jorge.
Jorge, who played a central role in managing the footballer’s career, died at around 10pm local time on Friday, August 7, at a hospital in Rosario near the family home.
News of his death prompted a wave of heartfelt tributes across the football world, with messages coming from Messi’s boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys, Barcelona and Argentina.
Messi said: “I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the love, respect and enormous consideration you have shown me and my family during this incredibly painful time following the loss of my dad.
“Thank you for being there for us, for every message, every gesture and, above all, for respecting our grief and our privacy.”
Lionel Messi has thanked fans for their support following the death of his father, Jorge
The football icon also shared a photograph of himself with his father, writing in Spanish: “I love you, pa.”
Messi was known to be extremely close to Jorge, who served not only as his agent but also as a de facto business manager, helping guide his son’s off-field empire throughout his remarkable career.
In recent months, though, the patriarch of the family had been dealing with an as-yet-unconfirmed medical issue that had seen him taken to hospital in his home country.
His illness first came to light when Lionel, 39, cried on the pitch at the World Cup in a rare public display of emotion.
After scoring a hat-trick against Algeria in Argentina’s opening group game in Kansas City, Messi was questioned by journalists and said: ‘No, honestly it’s something completely unrelated to sports. It’s been a few difficult days, complicated.’
Just hours later, journalist Eduardo Feinmann explained the reason for the tears in an interview on Radio Mitre, one of the country’s most listened-to stations.
‘This has to do with his father. His father is not in good health,’ he said. ‘For quite some time now, several months, since last year.
‘And this week there were some situations that slightly worsened his health, and Messi is going through this internal struggle. In other words, like any human being.’
It has since been reported that Jorge suffered a ‘medical episode’ at his home in January of this year, and he was hospitalized as a result.
In the aftermath, he was said to have undergone cardiovascular and neurological tests, but no official diagnosis was shared by the family, who sought to keep Jorge’s health out of the media.
Jorge’s health became headline news again in June, when a broadcaster in Argentina falsely claimed he had died – before later issuing an emotional apology and stepping down from her job.
Lionel is the third of four children of Jorge and his wife Celia Cuccittini, and the pair remained together until his death.
They married in 1978 and split their time between Rosario and Miami, where their footballing superstar son currently plays for David Beckham’s Inter Miami in MLS.
Before becoming Lionel’s agent, Jorge worked for a steel manufacturer in Villa Constitucion, meeting his wife as a young man in Rosario – where the family then grew up.
Messi has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and a younger sister, Maria Sol.
Jorge has been at Messi’s side throughout his historic career, which began in Argentina with Newell’s Old Boys, before he moved to Spain to join Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy in 2000.
He became the greatest of all-time in an incredible 21 years in Barcelona, before stunning the world with a move to Paris Saint-Germain – orchestrated by Jorge – in 2021.
After two seasons in the French capital, he moved to MLS and Inter Miami, where he remains to this day at the age of 39.
While Lionel’s career has been magical on the pitch, it has not been without controversy off it, with Jorge famously by his son’s side throughout his tax fraud case in 2016.
The pair sat together in front of the court, with Jorge in his role as his son’s business manager, with the prosecution alleging that Messi failed to properly pay tax on income from his image rights between 2007 and 2009.
Ultimately, both father and son were convicted of three tax offenses, initially each receiving suspended 21-month prison sentences.
Jorge’s sentence was subsequently reduced to 15 months upon review in 2017 by Spain’s Supreme Court, with the pair also hit with substantial fines.
