Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, recently shared with Haute Living magazine (USA) about her family’s life, since her famous husband decided to choose to play for Inter Miami Club.
“We knew that Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami would be special. But unexpectedly, everything exceeded all expectations. The biggest surprise for us was the extremely warm welcome from everyone, right from the moment we arrived in Miami,” Antonela Roccuzzo shared.
“What I like most about Miami is the weather, the people and the landscape… Everything makes you feel like you’re living in an endless summer. Therefore, our decision to come here was the best decision,” Messi’s wife added.
Messi after deciding not to renew with PSG in early 2023. He sought to return to Barcelona, but was unsuccessful because the Catalan club’s financial problems were very complicated at that time. At the same time, Al Hilal Club in Saudi Arabia made a huge offer to recruit Messi up to 1.5 billion USD, including a 3-year playing contract and other commercial contracts.
However, Al Hilal Club received a definite rejection from Messi. This was revealed and confirmed by Al Hilal Club President, Mr. Anmar Al Haili in July this year, in an interview with Goal at a financial conference.
“We actually contacted Messi when his contract in Paris ended. We made an offer worth $1.5 billion, but the player refused because his family wanted to go to the United States. It is surprising that the player could refuse such a big offer for the sake of his family. In my opinion, Messi could have convinced his family, but he did not hesitate to refuse. We respect that, because family is more important than money,” said Anmar Al Haili.
This event was also revealed by Messi’s wife: “Our family has always been together in all joys and sorrows. There were very difficult times, we were always there as a family. Sharing together, celebrating success, or supporting each other when things were not going well. Our values as a family, including humility, respect, helping each other and being “a team”. As I said, we chose to come to America as a family decision, and we are happy with that”.
Antonela Roccuzzo also shared about Messi’s historic moment when he was crowned champion at the 2022 World Cup: “Those moments were stressful, but the best thing is that we went through those experiences together as a family, and my children created wonderful memories. The fact that we lived these moments from the beginning makes them very unforgettable.”
At Inter Miami, outside of playing time, Messi and his family have integrated into life in Miami City as simply as everyone else. Messi and his wife regularly take their three sons to play soccer with Inter Miami’s youth teams.
Messi has just returned to the Argentina national team to play in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America. He and his teammates have just overcome superstorm Milton to fly to Venezuela on October 10, and will have nearly a day of rest to recover before playing against the national team at 4:00 a.m. on October 11. After this match, Messi and the Argentina national team will return to Buenos Aires, preparing for the next match against Bolivia at home at 7:00 a.m. on October 16.