6 times footballer’s family members put their foot in it: Icardi, Messi…
Footballers are often focused on what’s happening on the pitch, but over the years there have been several examples of family members stirring the pot.
Sometimes the unfolding drama and subplots are even more exciting than what is happening on the pitch. When footballers and their families are involved, drama often isn’t far around the corner.
From partners to siblings, we have collected six examples of when footballer’s family members really put their foot in it.
Ansu Fati
The Barcelona winger has had a frustrating time at Camp Nou recently and his dad hasn’t held any punches when discussing his future with the club.
“If it was up to me, I would take him [to another team] but [Ansu] wants to stay at Barcelona,” Bori Fati told Cope. “As a dad, I am angry. Seeing Ansu play so little winds you up a little bit and sometimes I think as a father, not a coach.
“What annoys me is how they’re treating him in terms of minutes. One minute, two, three… I am not asking for him to be a starter whatever, because all the forwards at the club are phenomenonal, but we are talking about Ansu Fati, of Spain and Barcelona, who came through La Masia… if you don’t give him [a chance], who will you?”
Cristiano Ronaldo
CR7 is the king of social media, but every now and again his sisters each stir the pot, particularly when it comes to the GOAT debate.
Katia and Elma dos Santos Aveiro quite rightly back up their brother on Instagram, but sometimes they are guilty of going a bit over the top.
With that being said, there’s a whole other conspiracy theory that Ronaldo himself is behind the account spreading propaganda about himself. Now that would be funny.
Well well.
So, Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister posted on Instagram a bitter reply to Van Dijk joke.But…
Was she really the one who wrote that or Cristiano himself?
Apparently there was an earlier post, then edited, that shows Cristiano talking in first person… pic.twitter.com/OhxdQPrL2n
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) December 3, 2019
Lionel Messi
Even Messi has been entwined in drama over the years. Back in February 2023 Messi’s brother, Matias landed him in it. Speaking on a Twitch stream, he had some interesting things to say about Barcelona and Joan Laporta.
“I have a Sport [Spanish newspaper] clipping stuck in my house that says, ‘Messi should return to Barcelona,’ and I subtitled it, ‘Hahahaha [sic], we are not going back to Barcelona, and if we do, we are going to do a good cleaning. Among them, kick out Joan Laporta,’” Matias said.
“People [in Barcelona] did not support him. People should have gone out to do a march or something, let Laporta leave and Messi stay.
“The Spanish are traitors. I tell you because I want it to come out of our guts and not listen to things that are not true.”
His brother has since apologised for his comments, but he might have made a potential Barcelona and Messi reunion a bit more awkward.
Mauro Icardi
The Argentine striker has had more drama in his life than Kim Kardashian. His infamous relationship with Argentine model Wanda Nara has often put his name in the papers.
The story of how Icardi and Nara got together is well known as the pair struck up a relationship around the time she was with his Argentine teammate Maxi Lopez.
Their breakup was just as explosive as you’d imagine. After cheating allegations about him had emerged, she took to social media to write, “Another family you have ruined for a s–t.”
This then prompted Icardi to go AWOL from PSG training as he desperately tried to fix the relationship. There’s rarely a dull moment with these two around.
On Mauro Icardi's 30th birthday, here's a gentle reminder of his relationship with Maxi Lopez:
1⃣ Meets his childhood hero
2⃣ Become teammates & close friends
3⃣ Has an affair with Lopez's wife
4⃣ Gets Lopez's kids tattooed on his arm
5⃣ Marries Lopez's wife— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) February 19, 2023
Thiago Silva
His wife, Isabelle da Silva has often butted heads with Chelsea fans on social media. Following Chelsea’s Champions League final triumph in 2020-21, she was left underwhelmed by the club’s celebrations.
“Today I went to Stamford Bridge and I noticed that the photos changed around the stadium,” she wrote on social media. “But I don’t see a photo of Thiago Silva anywhere. Why Chelsea?”
She landed herself in hot water again this year after she was disgruntled with the Chelsea fans again. Following a loss to Manchester City, she wrote, “Don’t come to Stamford Bridge if you’re not singing. Come on Chelsea.”
Even recently she liked a Tweet which called Graham Potter a ‘deadbeat coach’ which probably didn’t go down too well.
Paul Konchesky
The former Liverpool full-back had come under fire from fans after a subpar start to life at Anfield and his mum promptly took to Facebook to defend him.
In a soon-deleted post, she referred to the Liverpool fans as “scouse scum” and also suggested that her son “should never have left Fulham.”
Several years after the incident, Konchesky himself told Sky Sports: “She was obviously naive thinking that it would stay between her and her friends!
“She probably regrets every single bit of it now, but that’s motherhood for you! I didn’t know about it until probably a day or two after it. I went into training and obviously the press people get hold of you and say blah, blah, blah.
“She regrets every minute of it, but that’s life. You get on and you learn from your mistakes. I’ve gone on and played many more games since.”
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