Argentine football star Lionel Messi and bride Antonella Roccuzzo on
their wedding day at the City Centre Complex in Rosario, Santa Fe
province, Argentina on June 30, 2017. PHOTO | EITAN ABRAMOVICH | AFP
ROSARIO
Footballers
and celebrities including pop singer Shakira gathered Friday for the
"wedding of the century" in Lionel Messi's Argentine hometown as the
Barcelona superstar prepared to marry his childhood sweetheart Antonella
Roccuzzo.
Shakira and her husband,
Messi's teammate Gerard Pique, arrived at the airport and headed to the
wedding venue to join 260 guests including numerous footballers such as
Messi's Barcelona strike partners Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Argentine
media called it the "wedding of the century" for Rosario, the gritty
northern port city where Messi, 30, and his bride 29, met when the
player was nine years old.
Former
Barca and current Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas was also expected, as well
as Argentina and Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero.
The public relations company organizing the event warned in a statement that the ceremony will be "strictly private."
Television
crews and reporters gathered at the wedding venue hoping for a glimpse
of the couple or at least some of their guests.
The
party will be a respite for Messi from his legal woes. A Spanish court
last month rejected his appeal against a conviction for tax fraud.
Brunette
bride Roccuzzo, 29, will wear a gown by Rosa Clara — a Spanish designer
who has dressed actress Eva Longoria and Spain's Queen Letizia.
The
wedding is scheduled at 2200 GMT in the City Center casino, which
stands right next to a crime-ridden slum run by drug gangs.
The civil wedding ceremony and party will all take place inside the venue, and the guests will be lodged there too.
The feast will reportedly feature Argentine delicacies such as roast gizzards.
Uruguayan pop bands Rombai and Marama plus singer Karina, Aguero's wife, will perform at the reception.
There
were also rumors that there would be singing by Shakira, the Colombian
diva famous for "Hips Don't Lie" and "Whenever, Wherever."
Shakira had recently denied rumors that she would miss the wedding due to a quarrel with Roccuzzo.
Messi and Roccuzzo live in Barcelona where he plays, but still return regularly to Rosario for vacations.
He moved to Spain when he was 13 to join FC Barcelona, but the couple kept in touch.
Messi has gone on to win the top Ballon d'Or award five times. He is widely regarded as the world's best footballer.
But
various old friends of the couple in their home city said the bride and
groom are humble folk who have never forgotten where they come from.
"They are the love of each other's lives," Messi's childhood friend Diego Vallejos said.
Instead of wedding presents, they have asked for donations to a children's charity.
LEO AND ANTO
The
couple have reportedly spent the past two weeks in Rosario with family,
but have kept out of sight of the reporters who have invaded the city.
Rumors
circulated of bachelor and bachelorette parties, but the only evidence
that emerged was a photo, posted by ex-Barca goalkeeper Jose Pinto, of
Messi enjoying a barbecue with a few friends.
Some friends of Roccuzzo have shared pictures of her relaxing with relatives.
On the eve of the wedding, a festive atmosphere reigned in the Las Heras neighborhood where Messi grew up.
"We will celebrate," said Damian Lugoni, 27, a local sausage sandwich vendor.
"I wish good luck to Leo and Anto, who is just as simple and nice as him."
"We
are all happy for them," said Lisandro Urteaga, an artist who was
called in to paint a mural of Messi in the neighborhood for the
occasion.
"Let him celebrate the way
someone like him deserves. He is a real example as a human being —
although when he plays football he doesn't seem to be from this planet."
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