British mum feels ‘humbled’ after Messi plays football with her kid

Barcelona star Messi Barcelona was recently pictured having family time with his kids on a private Caribbean beach.

The moment was captured by British mum Anna O’Neill who says she was ‘humbled‘ by the encounter because Messi played football with her 11-year-old son, Mackenzie, in Antigua.

“It was such a sweet experience,” Ms O’Neill tells PA. “They’re just a very normal family.

“I know it’s terrible but I just thought, ‘oh here we go, another footballer’, but a million per cent he’s just interested in his family and it was really humbling.

“What a lovely thing for this guy to do – he’s on a family vacation.”

“I’m not a football fan at all, so when Mackenzie said, ‘oh my god, mum, Messi is on the beach’, I was just like, ‘who?’,” she said.

After messaging her brother and searching Messi’s name on Google, Ms O’Neill headed to the beach to see the Argentinian with her son and the other children, where they had been playing for around half an hour.

She said it was apparent Messi did not speak English but she asked for a photo of him with Mackenzie to which he said “yes, no problem” before she “left them to it” playing football.

As for her lucky son, Mackenzie, he says it was Messi’s father who had invited him to play with them.

He said they played a “full-on match” with “rush goalies” on the sand, with Messi and his son on one team, adding it was difficult to take the ball off the professional as he “just had a lot of skill.”

And of the footballing skills of Messi’s that six-year-old, Thiago, Mackenzie says he was “really good for his age”.

“He was a really nice guy,” Mackenzie said of Messi. “He looked happy to see me playing with his son and some other boys. “He doesn’t act like he owns the place, he just acts like what anyone else would act like.”