What’s the story?
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi has recently revealed on a Spanish show that his elder son Thiago is not a big fan of football and is reluctant to visit the Camp Nou on matchdays. The Barcelona talisman was on the show with Luis Suarez when he made the revelation.
Messi went on to specify that the reason Thiago ends up travelling to the Camp Nou on matchdays is that Benja, Luis Suarez’s son, along with a bunch of other school friends also go to the stadium.
“He does not like (football) much, really. He goes because Benja (son of Luis Suarez) and some schoolmates go, but he is not a fan. He’s not like his (Suarez’s son) who is all day with the ball,” the 29-year-old added.
In case you didn’t know...
This is not the first instance when arguably the best footballer on the planet revealed his son’s disinterest towards football. Last year, in September, Messi said that he doesn’t buy his son footballs because he is not fond of them.
The heart of the matter
Two of Barcelona’s ‘holy trinity’ of MSN, Messi and Suarez appeared on a Spanish Show titled ‘Por la Comiseta’, where they disclosed how much their sons love the game which earns their fathers their living.
The diminutive Argentine compared his son to Suarez’s in terms of the likeliness they have for the game and clearly, the Uruguayan’s son is more attached to it. Benjamin, or Benja, as he is lovingly called apparently loves kicking around the ball ‘all day’.
What’s next
Reportedly, both Thiago and Benjamin are part of Barcelona's famous academy along with sons of Gerard Pique and Neymar with the Brazilian’s son being the latest to join FCB Escola. Earlier last year Messi had said that Barcelona was planning on opening a facility to help players’ children play football and that he would like Thiago to join that.
With such greats of the game to guide them through their life, both kids can go on and strive for greatness in the future.
Author’s take
Football has seen numerous examples of sons trying to follow in their father’s footsteps and players like Kasper Schmeichel and Jordi Cruyff are living examples of that. Suarez’s son has developed a liking for the game, and surely his father would like him to go through the ranks at Barcelona itself and become one of the greats.
On the other hand, even though the Argentine would love Thiago to keep the Messi flag flying high in the sport, he should allow his son to follow the path he chooses. One can only hope that the four-year-old goes on to pick football as a career and break all sorts of records his father has made all these years, and will in the future.
