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Let’s go through some Messi facts which many of you probably are not aware of. He has always been a key player, creating and converting chances. Everyone knows his prowess on the field, yet many still don’t know the little things that make the little magician tick.
Personal life
His family is an apt example. Messi, a devout Roman Catholic has the utmost love and devotion for his son. Not being enough that he stitched his son’s name on every boot he played with, he went a step further by tattooing ‘Thiago’ on his left calf, along with the image of his son’s tiny hands. When his son was born on November 2, 2012, Messi proclaimed via Facebook that he is the happiest man in the world; his son was born and thanked God for this ‘gift’. Messi adores his son. Thiago even has his own customized jerseys with his father’s iconic number 10 at the back, but instead of Messi, it reads ‘Papi’ which is what his son calls him. Lionel Messi’s girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, delivered their son at the Dexeus hospital which is about 700 metres from Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.
Messi is not married, as far as we know, but is going steady with his longtime girlfriend and mother to his son, Antonella Roccuzzo, who is from Rosario, the same home town as Messi. Antonella Roccuzzo, a model, is known for her charming beauty and more significantly, for being the childhood sweetheart of the Argentine soccer star. A student of Nutrition science, Antonella later shifted her base to her boyfriend’s home in Barcelona, to stay in touch with him, simultaneously continuing her education. The Argentinean girl knows Messi since her childhood days as being the cousin of Lionel’s best friend “Lucas Scaglia” and she met the future footballer at the age of five.
Messi later shifted from Rosario for career reasons, but kept meeting Antonella during the Christmas vacations. It was in 2009, that both fell for each other, and after which the couple was spotted together on numerous occasions including vacations in South Barcelona and Brazil, where they were seen having a great time together . The couple got engaged in 2010, and since then has gone on steady. Antonella and Messi are expected to marry soon, which would be surely grand news for the couple’s Argentinean families.
On one side, his family helps him a lot to get through just a day of being one of the greatest football players of the world. On the other side, there are the more technical bits of things, integral cogs of the machine, like his football boot.
Lionel Messi currently wears size 10 battle pack battle-pack edition Adizero- f50 boots and performs true magic with them, demonstrating his incredible ability to place the ball exactly where he wants to. His coordination on the ball is truly extraordinary. Along with exceptional gear, Messi also follows a tough workout program and a strict diet in preparation for his matches.
His workout program consists of two parts:
For Workout One- Messi does a series of stretching, which is a combination of flexibility and strength building exercises. This includes squat jumps, rope skipping, and hopping hurdles. After stretching, he does a few rounds of short sprints are to work on stamina and then a 5-minute run.
For Workout Two- he begins with exercises focusing on movement. These exercises include pillar skip where he runs ahead while raising his feet high in the air, forward lunge and multi-directional lunge. After this, he does a final run for 10 minutes. The above workout plan helps Messi to enhance his quick movement of feet and helps in building up his core strength. After his heavy workout, he follows it up with a power yoga program.
Furthermore, besides all the work outs, the four time Ballon d’Or winner also follows a strict diet plan. The time spent on the field must have a support of a great diet plan to fetch the desired results. One might not be able to match up Lionel Messi’s workout chart in a day, but one can definitely follow up his diet plan.
10 days before a football match:
Messi believes in cutting down carbohydrates from his body and building it gradually as the time of match comes around the corner. In this way, the body maximizes the blood sugar available inside the body. The diet is called low carb height protein diet, which includes protein shakes 3 times a day and 7-8 glasses of water in order to avoid dehydration.
5 days before a football match:
His next introduction to his diet is vegetable soup before every meal. The soup contains a high amount of turmeric, chilli, coriander and ginger as they help in making blood thin making the vegetable soup, a vaso-dilator which results in increased blood flow.
A day before the match:
Afternoon meal plays a crucial role, so Messi takes fish, prawn, or chicken along with boiled potatoes, green vegetables and an orange.
6 hours before the match:
According to Messi, It is better to invest this time in sleeping rather than being awake and eating. Even in case he wakes up, Messi never takes any wheat-related product as carbohydrates can slow down the body and urge him to sleep more. Instead, he goes for having porridge or combine egg white for ideal balance of proteins and carbohydrates.
90 minutes before the match:
Messi prefers to have seasonal fruits 70-90 minutes before the match. Banana, mango, apple, etc., are all good as they have the best amount of fiber and not so much sugar content.
Social profile – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr
This and a combination of so many other things are a result of how Messi performs and yet we are just scratching the surface. There is so much more to this superstar. You actively follow messi through his facebook account- https://www.facebook.com/LeoMessi, twitter account- https://twitter.com/LioMessi_ or on instagram- http://instagram.com/leomessi. Messi doesn’t have an official Tumblr account.
The man has truly taken on the mantle of football and reached the top. One just has to take a look at his records to see how good the maestro is. He has broken and laid claim to many records with his own name, so for ages after he is gone, he will always be remembered.
