1st July, 2017
Argentine football star Lionel Messi has married his childhood sweetheart in his hometown in what has been called the “wedding of the century”.
A civil ceremony for Messi, 30, and Antonela Roccuzzo, 29, was held at a luxury hotel in the city of Rosario.
Football stars and celebrities were among the 260 guests, with hundreds of police deployed for the event.
Messi, the Argentina and Barcelona forward, met Roccuzzo as a child before he moved to Spain aged just 13.
Among the guests at Friday’s wedding were Messi’s Barcelona teammates Luis Suárez, Neymar, Gerard Piqué and his wife, Colombia’s pop star Shakira. A number of guests flew into Rosario on private jets.
Argentina’s Clarín newspaper has variously called the wedding “the wedding of the year” and “the wedding of the century”.
Earlier, crowds gathered at the local airport to try to spot some of the famous guests.
BBC reports that a private security firm was working inside the hotel to keep out potential gatecrashers.
About 150 journalists received accreditation to enter a special press area, but were not given full access to the venue, organisers said.
According to the Mirror, after the ceremony, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and his wife posed on the red carpet themselves for the Barcelona star’s adoring fans.
The bride wore an exclusive, exquisitely detailed mermaid-style gown, designed by Rosa Clara, for the ceremony.
The designer also dressed the bride’s mother and sisters and several of the wedding guests.
Guests, including Messi’s Argentine teammate Ezequiel Lavezzi, Barcelona star Gerard Pique and Shakira, were set to be given gift bags containing wine, local desert dulce de leche and other items.
The menu at the event features a ‘sushi station’, but is very much an Argentine affair, including including empanadas, traditional sweetbreads and blood sausage.
Messi and his wife met in Rosario and have been inseparable since first crossing paths as teenagers. They have two sons together.
Messi, who moved to Spain at the age of 13 and has lived in Barcelona since, arrived home to a new mural in his honour, created in anticipation of his wedding.
Guests are staying at the 188-room Pullman Hotel inside the complex, where rates start from $125 a night.
The entire area will be closed off to the public for the duration of the wedding.
Messi will have some time for a honeymoon before linking up with Barcelona for their pre-season tour of America next month.
New boss Ernesto Valverde will lead his side out to face Juventus on July 22, before testing his troops against Manchester United and Real Madrid on a tour down the east coast