Lionel Messi misses Barcelona's match 'for baby's birth'
By AFP | Published: 10th March 2018 05:33 PM |
Last Updated: 10th March 2018 05:33 PM | A+A A- |
FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi reacts after scoring during the Spanish La Liga soccer match. | AP
BARCELONA: Lionel Messi has pulled out of Barcelona's squad for Saturday's La Liga match at Malaga with reports saying the birth of his third child is imminent.
The club tweeted: "Change to the squad. Messi is out for personal reasons and Yerry Mina takes his place."
Messi's wife Antonella Roccuzzo is expecting a boy, a brother to five-year-old Thiago and Mateo, who is two. The child is expected to be called Ciro.
[LAST MINUTE] Change to the squad. Messi is out for personal reasons and Yerry Mina takes his place
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 10, 2018
The Argentinian couple, both 30, first met as children in 1996. Their relationship began a decade later.
Barcelona, who face Chelsea in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, have an eight-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.
