Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi has revealed that his decision to leave Barcelona left his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo and three sons, Thiago, seven, Mateo, four and Ciro, two, distraught.

"When I told my family that I could go, it was a drama. They all started crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools. Mateo is still little and he doesn't realise what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere," Messi was quoted as saying by British tabloid, The Sun.