Lionel Messi has thanked supporters on Instagram following the death of his father Jorge, who passed away in Rosario at age 68. The footballer returned home after his father died in hospital close to the family home at around 10 p.m. local time on Friday, August 7.
Messi missed Inter Miami's defeat by Monterrey on Sunday to travel back to Argentina. On Wednesday, the 39-year-old expressed his gratitude in his first social media post since the loss, writing that he wanted to thank everyone for the love, respect, and consideration shown to his family during an incredibly painful time.
"I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the love, respect and enormous consideration you have shown me and my family during this incredibly painful time following the loss of my dad," Messi wrote. "Thank you for being there for us, for every message, every gesture and, above all, for respecting our grief and our privacy."
Messi also posted a picture alongside his father with the caption "I love you, pa" in Spanish. Emotional tributes flooded in from across the football world, including messages from Newell's Old Boys, Barcelona, and the Argentina national team.
Jorge Messi's role in his son's career
Jorge Messi was extremely close to his son and served as his agent and de facto business manager throughout his career. He managed the forward's multi-million dollar empire off the pitch as Messi grew into a football legend.
Before managing his son's career, Jorge worked for a steel manufacturer in Villa Constitucion. He met his wife Celia Cuccittini in Rosario as a young man, and the couple married in 1978. They remained together until his death, splitting their time between Rosario and Miami, where Lionel currently plays for David Beckham's Inter Miami in MLS.
Lionel is the third of four children born to Jorge and Celia. He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and a younger sister, Maria Sol.
Jorge guided Messi's career from its early days in Argentina with Newell's Old Boys to Spain, where Messi moved to join Barcelona's famed La Masia academy in 2000. After an incredible 21 years in Barcelona, Jorge orchestrated Messi's move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. Following two seasons in the French capital, Messi moved to MLS and Inter Miami, where he remains to this day at age 39.
Health struggles before his death
In recent months, Jorge had been dealing with an as-yet-unconfirmed medical issue that had seen him taken to hospital in his home country. The illness first came to light when Messi cried on the pitch at the World Cup in a rare public display of emotion after scoring a hat-trick against Algeria in Argentina's opening group game in Kansas City.
Questioned by journalists after the match, Messi said: "No, honestly it's something completely unrelated to sports. It's been a few difficult days, complicated."
Just hours later, journalist Eduardo Feinmann explained the reason for the tears in an interview on Radio Mitre, one of Argentina's most listened-to stations. "This has to do with his father. His father is not in good health," he said. "For quite some time now, several months, since last year. And this week there were some situations that slightly worsened his health, and Messi is going through this internal struggle. In other words, like any human being."
It has since been reported that Jorge suffered a "medical episode" at his home in January of this year and was hospitalized as a result. He underwent cardiovascular and neurological tests, but no official diagnosis was shared by the family, who sought to keep Jorge's health out of the media. In June, Jorge's health became headline news again when a broadcaster in Argentina falsely claimed he had died, before later issuing an emotional apology and stepping down from her job.
Legal proceedings and tax fraud conviction
While Lionel's career has been magical on the pitch, it has not been without controversy off it, with Jorge famously by his son's side throughout his tax fraud case in 2016. The pair sat together in front of the court, with Jorge in his role as his son's business manager, while prosecution alleged that Messi failed to properly pay tax on income from his image rights between 2007 and 2009.
Ultimately, both father and son were convicted of three tax offenses, initially each receiving suspended 21-month prison sentences. Jorge's sentence was subsequently reduced to 15 months upon review in 2017 by Spain's Supreme Court, with the pair also hit with substantial fines.
