Lionel Messi turns 36 this Saturday, June 24, and congratulatory messages for the crack have circulated on social networks throughout the morning. Iconic images, videos with his goals, photos with all his achievements and many good words. The ’10 ′ has not stopped receiving affection and many have remembered his childhood in Rosario, although what perhaps many do not know is that Messi was not going to be called Lionel and that the name that appeared in the history books of world football should have been another.
The player’s mother, Celia María Cuccitini, revealed the curious anecdote during the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The Argentine spoke on her son’s birthday with telefé and she remembered how it was the day Messi was born and why the boy was not called Leonel as she wanted. “I always liked Leonel”, he assured. The problem came when Jorge, her husband and father of the soccer player, went to the civil registry to make Leo’s arrival in the world official.
Jorge Messi, instead of registering the baby with the name of Leonel as Celia wanted, registered him as Lionel thinking that his wife was referring to singer Lionel Richie, who they both liked very much. “When Jorge came to write it down I almost killed himCuccitini said.
Lionel Richie didn’t think it was because of him
The story about Messi’s name later reached the ears of Lionel Richie, but he did not believe it was true and thought it was fake news. “We were in Europe and an article came out saying that Messi’s mother confirmed that they had named him Lionel after me.”, he recalled in an interview for infobae in 2016. “I was speechless and said: ‘It’s true!’” he added.
The artist, at that time, also sent a motivational message to his namesake after the Argentine announced that he was resigning from the national team after the defeats in the 2014 World Cup finals and the 2015 and 2016 Copa América.If I told you how many times I’ve lost at the Grammys… And that only made me do one thing: improve.. I’m not worried about him. I’m sure he’s wrong right now, but it’s Lionel, he can’t go wrong. He’s going to be fine, they’re going to see him win, he’s a winner.” And as the artist said, Messi won and this June 24 celebrates his first birthday as world champion.
