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Lionel Messi's wife Antonella Roccuzzo celebrated the PSG star's Laureus Sports Award with a heartfelt message on her Instagram account.
Messi was bestowed with the Laureus Sportsman of the Year honor on Monday at the award ceremony in Paris.
He guided Argentina to their third World Cup title in December last year and picked up an award on behalf of the national team too as the Albiceleste were named World Team of the Year.
Messi's wife Roccuzzo, who is always seen accompanying him at award functions, shared pictures of them from the gala on her Instagram handle. One of the images was that of Lionel Messi holding both the awards he picked up on the night.
In the caption, she wrote:
"Congratulations love!! @leomessi You deserve this and much more!"
In the comments, their close friends, Luis Suarez, Messi's former Barcelona teammate, and his partner Sofia Balbi, also congratulated Messi while expressing their love for the couple.
Messi and Antonella are one of football's most prominent couples. Having been together since childhood, their love story has been nothing short of a fairytale, with tabloids often writing about their relationship in purple prose.
Antonella always turns up for Messi's games for club and country and is seen cheering him on from the stands with their kids, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro, also in attendance.
This was Messi's second Sportsman of the Year award, having also won the honor in 2020 along with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. He's also the only winner from the list to play in a team sport.
Messi also gave a brief speech after collecting the awards last night wherein he thanked his club and country teammates while also calling the Sportsman of the Year award a "special honor".
Lionel Messi is the only footballer to win the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award
The Laureus Sportsman of the Year award is largely dominated by athletes competing in individual sports as Lionel Messi is the only footballer in its 23-year history to win it.
His arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for the award five times, two less than the Argentine, but has never won it.
Tennis is the dominant sport in the award's history with 11 winners, all going to the sport's 'Big 3' of Roger Federer (5), Novak Djokovic (4) and Rafael Nadal (2).
Formula One is next with five winners followed by athletics (4) and golf (2).
