Most Lionel Messi fan, and other football enthusiasts, knows that the football superstar points to the sky in celebration of his goals. But many do not know why he does so.
The Argentine superstar has explained many times that he points his index fingers to the sky in celebration of his grandmother who encouraged him and took him to the football field to play. However, the grandmother didn’t live long enough to see him reach the spotlight.
Messi said: ‘I am doing this because I dedicate my goals to my grandmother. She took me to football, but now she can’t see how far I have come. Nevertheless, she continues to help me and my family.’
To corroborate, the author of Messi’s autobiography, Luca Caioli noted that Messi was too small so the coach in his hometown club, Rosario wasn’t playing him.
The grandmother was said to have told the coach: ‘Put him on and you’ll see how well the little boy plays’ to which the coach replied: ‘OK, but I’m putting him near the touchline so that when he cries you can take him off yourself.’
Lionel Andres Messi has since gone from being the little boy to becoming a soccer whiz kid and now one of the greatest to ever play the round leather game. To the memory of his grandmother, he dedicates every goal – club or country – ever since.
