Lionel Messi skips training to be there as his second child is born
Today Lionel Messi welcomed his second child into the world. His long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to a baby boy in Barcelona. Named Benjamin according to Argentine reports, the little one was born in Barcelona.
The Barcelona soccer star missed training this morning due to reported “family matters” before he made the good news public.
It was reported in April that the couple had looked to one of Lionel’s teammates for help picking the name, Sergio Aguero was given the task of naming the little boy.
Lionel, 27, had just returned from a trip to the United States yesterday. This left him with one training session left before Saturday night’s important match against Atletico Madrid.
"Leo had the coach's and the club's permission to miss training for personal reasons," coach Luis Enrique told a news conference.
The couple are already parents to one son, Thiago, who was born in November 2012.
The sports star had taken to social media four months ago to reveal to his fans that Antonella was pregnant with their second child. He shared a very cute picture of his girlfriend and their son and wrote: “Can’t wait to welcome you into our world!! We love you!”
When Thiago was born three years ago his dad was similarly excused from training to be there with Antonella.
At the time he posted a heartfelt message to announce the arrival of his first son:
"Today I am the happiest man in the world, my son was born and thanks to God for this gift!"
Since then Lionel has hand Thiago’s hand prints tattooed on his calf, we wonder if that was the beginning of a tradition.
