📍Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
1987 – 2000“Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina, in June 1987, and grew up in the Las Heras neighbourhood in the south of the city, the third of four children of Jorge Messi, a steel factory manager, and Celia Cuccittini. He played football on the streets with his brothers and cousins, and his grandmother Celia took him to his first club, Grandoli, and later encouraged his move to Newell's Old Boys. At ten he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, and his family struggled to pay for the treatment. In 2000, when he was thirteen, FC Barcelona offered to pay for it, and the family moved to Spain. The move was hard on a shy boy far from home, but he rose through La Masia to become one of the greatest footballers of all time, and he has often returned to Rosario and supported Newell's.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today
Sources: Balague, G. Messi (2013), Orion; Caioli, L. Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend (2012), Icon Books; FIFA archives