Lionel Messi sends signed jerseys to the White House
While visiting Argentina last week, President Obama revealed that his daughters were big fans of Argentina and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. Speaking at a young leaders convention, Obama told the group of young entrepreneurs that he had wanted to bring his daughters Sasha and Malia along so that they could view the “beauty and vibrancy” of the city. He also added that like many others, his daughters were bigs fans of Messi and wanted to meet him.
But unfortunately for Obama’s daughters, even the President of The United States couldn’t make that happen.
“They’ve already met one famous Argentinian – His Holiness Pope Francis. Now they want to meet Messi, But I could not arrange that", Obama said.
Luckily for Obama’s daughters, the five-time Ballon-D’or winner was more than happy to send a couple of signed Argentina Jersey’s to the White House. Using the help of Argentine president Mauricio Macri, Messi sent each of the President’s daughters a personalised Argentina jersey with his signature.
The gift comes as no surprise considering Messi said he would jump at the opportunity to meet the President and his family after hearing about Obama’s comments earlier in the week.
"Obviously I was surprised that he said that, but on the contrary, for me it would be completely the opposite," he said. “For me it would be a source of great pride to be able to meet him and his daughters, but obviously I know it would be complicated. I don't know whether it is possible. Maybe he made the comment because he was in Argentina but I can say I was as surprised as everyone else."
Messi, who was in his home country for a World Cup qualifier against Bolivia, scored a penalty in a 2-0 win for Argentina. The Barcelona star is currently preparing to play in tonight's El Clasico, where he could potentially score his 500th goal. With Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid by 10 points, this El Cico has little bearing on the league compared to others in recent times.
But with the trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all fit to take on the seemingly unstoppable force of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, the match is set to be action packed and is a definite must-watch for football fans everywhere.