Meet Messi's bride Antonella, the 'first lady of football'

Lionel Messi's partner Antonella Roccuzzo (AFP)

Celebrity magazines have dubbed brunette mother-of-two Antonella Roccuzzo "the first lady of football" - her man, Lionel Messi, is widely considered the best player on the planet.
Showbiz and football stars will attend their wedding on Friday in the couple's hometown of Rosario, Argentina.
But friends here in their home city in northern Argentina insist the two are humble folk who have never forgotten where they come from.
Seen as a man of few words, the millionaire Barcelona striker lets his feet do the talking - and his bride in public says even less.
Her family members have also avoided talking to the crowds of reporters who have invaded the city ahead of the wedding.
Roccuzzo's father Jose is the owner of a chain of local supermarkets, Unico. He was formerly president of a regional supermarket owners' association.
Apart from that, he is said to be a keen fan of Newell's Old Boys - Messi's boyhood club in Rosario.

Lionel Messi, Antonella Roccuzzo and sons pose with the trophy after Barcelona won the Spanish Copa del Rey final on May 27, 2017 (AFP)
Roccuzzo grew up in the upper middle-class Bella Vista district and went to a private school, says one friend of the family who asked not to be named.
Diego Vallejos, a childhood friend and neighbor of the Messis, said the couple met aged nine and Messi "fell in love forever at first sight" with Roccuzzo.
"We will always remember Antonella as being around this neighborhood and as being Messi's girl," said another friend, Franco Lentini, who grew up in the same modest neighborhood as the player.
"They are the love of each other's lives," said Vallejos.
Messi moved to Spain aged 13 to join FC Barcelona, but he kept telephoning Roccuzzo and writing her letters.
Sources close to Roccuzzo's family say she started courses in communications and odontology but did not finish them.
Instead she moved to Spain to join Messi.
She opened a luxury shoe shop there this year along with her friend Sofia Balbi - wife of Messi's Barcelona strike partner, Uruguay's Luis Suarez.
World media started to widely identify Roccuzzo as Messi's girlfriend shortly before he played in the 2010 World Cup.
She gave birth to their children, Thiago, in 2012 and Mateo in 2015.

Former Barcelona players Xavi Hernandez and Carles Puyol arrive at Rosario's airport, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, to attend the wedding of Lionel Messi (AFP)
At Friday's wedding Roccuzzo will wear a dress by Spanish designer Rosa Clara. She has been photographed in dresses by the designer at various footballing award ceremonies and functions.
The designer has also dressed stars such as actresses Eva Longoria and Sofia Vergara as well as Spain's Queen Letizia.
Meanwhile, Messi's Barcelona teammates landed in private jets in his Argentine hometown on Thursday on the eve of the star striker's celebrity wedding.
Curious locals watched stars such as Suarez and Carles Puyol as well as ex-Barca and current Chelsea player Cesc Fabregas disembark at the small airport in the northern city of Rosario.

Barcelona's Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez arrives with his family at Rosario's airport, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, to attend the wedding of Lionel Messi (AFP)
A host of footballing stars including Barcelona striker Neymar and ex-Barca star Xavi Hernandez were expected among the 260 guests at Friday's wedding at the Hotel City Center Casino.
"Is that Neymar or Xavi? Ah, whatever, take a photo all the same," said one local woman to her grandchildren as they watched from the terminal.
The players arrived dressed in caps, hoods and dark sunglasses, with suitcases in hand.

Street artist Lisandro Urteaga works on his mural of Lionel Messi near Messi's childhood home in Rosario, Argentina. (Reuters)
Local reporters broadcasting from the scene on radio and television told their audiences it was "the wedding of the century" for Rosario.
Authorities said 300 police officers were deployed at key points in the gritty port city - the birthplace of the bloody drug gang Los Monos - to ensure that guests traveled safely to the venue.
With a homicide rate twice the national rate, Rosario is considered one of Argentina's most dangerous cities.
But Messi, 30, and his childhood sweetheart Roccuzzo, 29, return every year to visit their families.
Also expected among the wedding guests - and sure to draw the attention of starstruck fans at the airport - are Messi's teammate Gerard Pique and his wife, Colombian pop star Shakira.

A man cleans a windshield in front of Hotel City Center Casino in Rosario where Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo will get married (AFP)