1 He left Argentina for Barcelona at age 12 with his family. However, within a year everyone but his father, Jorge, returned home, unable to settle. Jorge stayed on as his agent, until 2013, when the infamous tax fraud allegations made things “messy”.
2 His ideal place to live? Castelldefels. Nestled between a long stretch of pristine beach and the mountains of the Garraf park, this is a genteel, well-heeled resort town about 15 miles south of Barcelona. Where, the richer you are, the higher you live. He lives right at the top.
3 In 2005, he moved to Castelldefels, where he loves the “peace and quiet, the beach, the mountains, everything”. He likes to “go down to the beach for a walk, see people playing sport... can eat well... live a very discreet life”. What he likes most of all is the town’s sizeable Argentinian expatriate community, its clutch of Argentine-style grills, and that he can “buy Argentine groceries in the shop”.
4 At first, he lived next door to Ronaldinho; now, Luis Suarez is a neighbour.
5 He drives a Maserati. He also has a club-issue Audi.
6 He plays on his PlayStation and Xbox, usually as Barcelona. Occasionally, he will join partner Antonella or one of his friends for a game of padel.
7 He is an ardent follower of NBA basketball, a habit he picked up from Ronaldinho.
8 He loves listening to Cumbia, a salsa-inflected dance music from Latin America.
9 He often picks up his son Thiago from the nursery. Junior Messi’s buddy at school? Delfina, Luis Suarez’s daughter. Family means partner Antonella, sons Thiago and Mateo; brother, Rodrigo, father Jorge and mother Celia. His entourage is rounded off by Pepe Costa, his fixer, adviser and most trusted confidant. Costa’s son, Alvaro, does the same job for Neymar.
10 He is religious about his hour-long afternoon nap (oh-so-Bangali!), followed by a snack; dulce de leche (a traditional Argentinian dessert made by caramelising sugar in milk) is a favourite. Yes, he has a sweet tooth (oh-so-very-Bangali!).
11 He is quite a foodie. His favourites at present include the steak at Ushuaia, an Argentine grill, or at Fosbury, a restaurant-bar with something of an Ibiza feel; he likes the Casanova Beach Club, whose owner is a family friend too. “He doesn’t ask for special treatment. We try to give him a quiet table, but if there is a party, he understands. It is him, his family, a couple of friends. All we ask of other diners is that they do not disturb him while he is eating. At the end, as he leaves, they ask for photos, and he is perfectly happy to do it,” says Manu, manager at the Casanova.
12 He likes his steak medium rare and has recently developed a taste for sushi, outgrowing his long fixation with pizzas, hamburgers and escalope milanese, veal smothered in tomato and cheese.
13 Another evidence of his Bangaliana? He loves a “cold drinks” (!) after a meal. Yes, he has not been able to shake off his addiction to fizzy drinks; whatever he is eating, he washes it down with Sprite.
14 He has a boxer dog (aww!), called Facha. He can’t really take him out for a walk along the Castelldefels promenade but he refuses to coop himself away. So, he gets his hair cut — once a month — at a salon, rather than summoning a stylist to his house.
15 The baby-faced darling has been lucky to have many father figures in a Barca shirt. Starting from Ronaldinho to Deco to Eidur Gudjohnsen to reserve goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto.
16 At the moment, he looks up to Javier Mascherano, his compatriot, as a big brother. Together with Suarez, they form a little clique, bonded by a mutual love of mate, the bitter herbal drink inexplicably popular in South America.
17 He is the dominant figure in the Barcelona dressing room. His power is quiet, but far-reaching.
18 It is not easy for rivals to hate him, unlike the man he beat to the Ballon d’Or on Monday night, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is no peacock, no preening extrovert. He has everything, but seems to want little: just to do his job and live his life. And still his rivals hate him. “But we are not stupid,” says one. “We know he is the best in the world.”
19 Lionel Messi is the best footballer in the world; for many the best ever. But he remains the reluctant superstar.
20 Lionel Messi is the worthy winner of Ballon d’Or because.... Tell t2@abp.in
