{"id":520486,"date":"2026-08-09T18:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/lionel-messi-says-goodbye-to-his-father-jorge-in-rosario\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T06:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:03:26","slug":"lionel-messi-says-goodbye-to-his-father-jorge-in-rosario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/sports\/football\/lionel-messi-says-goodbye-to-his-father-jorge-in-rosario\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi says goodbye to his father Jorge in Rosario"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Argentina<\/strong>.- World-famous footballer Lionel Messi said goodbye this Sunday, in private and near his native Rosario, to his father Jorge, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 68, an emotional pillar for the Argentine star and his representative since the first steps of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony<\/strong> was held in a cemetery<\/strong> in P\u00e9rez<\/strong>, a town bordering Rosario<\/strong>, and ended around noon Argentine time. The gathering of family and friends took place under strict secrecy and with a strong security operation, which began to be progressively lifted at the end of the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lionel Messi arrived on Saturday night together with his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, and his children on a private flight from the United States and has remained there ever since with the rest of his family, in Rosario, following the death of his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the vicinity of the cemetery, journalists, police officers, and some fans gathered, several of them with gifts to bid farewell to Jorge Messi, a central figure in the life and career of the Albiceleste captain, both as a father and in his role as an agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I came yesterday too, at night, I made this sign because I must know how it feels to lose a loved one<\/strong>“, 15-year-old Lucas Blanco told AFP, who brought a handmade sign that says “Stay strong Messi<\/strong>” and placed it on an entrance gate to the cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family did not report the cause of death, although the Argentine newspaper Clar\u00edn noted that Jorge Messi suffered from cancer and had remained hospitalized for several months, including during the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge Messi’s situation became known during the North American World Cup, when the number 10 burst into tears after scoring one of his goals against Algeria, in a scene that was linked to his father’s state of health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that episode, the Messi family confirmed that Jorge was under medical treatment without providing further details. Once the tournament ended, the Argentine captain traveled to Rosario to accompany him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also read: Lionel Messi arrives in Rosario after his father’s passing<\/a><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The fanaticism of Argentines for Lionel Messi is inversely proportional to the influx of people who approached the cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ana and Carlos arrived from the city of Tres Arroyos, in the south of the province of Buenos Aires. “We traveled 700 kilometers to be here, we wanted to accompany Leo at this moment,” said Carlos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife Ana was surprised by the small number of people at the entrance to the cemetery: “We thought there were going to be a lot of people, but we still want to be here to support the family during this very difficult time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house where Lionel Messi was born became an altar due to the number of gifts, letters, signs, and flowers that fans left at the door<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located in the city of Rosario, 300 km north of Buenos Aires, the modest two-story house was adorned with Argentine flags and messages of encouragement for the soccer star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condolences from the world of football: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC Barcelona, the club where Lionel forged much of his career, thanked Jorge for entrusting them with his early years and his period of greatest footballing splendor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has ordered a minute of silence and black armbands in all categories of Argentine football, with flags at half-mast until next Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inter Miami, Messi’s home since July 2023, held a minute of silence on Saturday night before their match against Monterrey for the Leagues Cup, and his teammates played the match wearing a black armband on their arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After scoring a goal, Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s teammate on the Argentine national team and at Inter Miami, revealed another shirt underneath his own with the number 10 in tribute to the star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argentina.- World-famous footballer Lionel Messi said goodbye this Sunday, in private and near his native Rosario, to his father Jorge, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 68, an emotional pillar for the Argentine star and his representative since the first steps of his career. The ceremony was held in a cemetery in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133543,"featured_media":520489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40943],"tags":[15097,44182,17478,44582,44623],"class_list":["post-520486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-argentina","tag-cover","tag-lionel-messi","tag-newsletter","tag-rosary"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2boW","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/d97d8b9d-85fe-4805-83c3-0f94af10c50e_16-9-aspect-ratio_1600w_0.webp","dum_api":{"author_name":"Carolina \u00c1lvarez","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-26-at-5.31.57-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Football"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/d97d8b9d-85fe-4805-83c3-0f94af10c50e_16-9-aspect-ratio_1600w_0.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}