#ItaliansUnknown: Lionel Messi Lionel Andres Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 24th, 1987. He is world-famous as an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris-Germaine and captains the Argentina national team. While he was born in Argentina and has dual citizenship in Spain through naturalization, his family belongs to Italy. On his father's side of the family, Messi is from the town of Recanati in the region of Le Marche on Italy's Adriatic coast. Rajath Kumar of Forza Italian Football suggests this isn't 100% the case. Angelo Messi emigrated to Argentina in 1883 from Ancona. Angelo Messi was the brother of Lionel's great-great-grandfather, Giovanni Messi, who stayed in Italy. At the same time, Angelo married Maria Latini and left for Argentina from Genoa, stopping in Barcelona along the way. The four-time UEFA championship winner, and international goal record leader, has Italian blood in his veins. #LionelMessi