A pharmacy on Carrer València in Barcelona’s El Clot neighborhood draws daily curiosity for sharing a famous surname with Argentina footballer Lionel Messi, Ara.cat reported.
Store owner Cristian Darío Messi purchased the business in 2019, naming it after his family just as his father had done in Argentina, according to Ara.cat.
Cristian Messi hails from Río Tercero in the Córdoba province and traces a distant family tree back to the football player. “It turns out the great-grandparents were cousins, my great-grandfather was a cousin of Leo’s great-grandfather,” he told Ara.cat.
The shop sits in a close-knit district where residents know one another well, providing the community feel the pharmacist sought after working across Catalonia. Customers and tourists frequently stop outside to take photographs or step inside to ask about a possible connection to the former FC Barcelona star.
“People find us because the name catches their attention,” Cristian Messi told Ara.cat, noting that callers often dial the pharmacy searching for specific cosmetic items after spotting the storefront online.
Cristian Messi crossed paths with the Argentina captain just once before opening the El Clot location, meeting him at the Madrid airport as both returned from South America. He introduced himself and outlined their supposed familial link to the forward, who already knew the story of their shared great-grandfather.
“With the amount of people stopping him to ask for photos, I appreciated the time he spent talking with me,” Cristian Messi told Ara.cat.
The surname continues to prompt unexpected moments far from the pharmacy counter. During a recent stay at a retirement home in Llinars, a stranger struck up a conversation and told him he looked like the player, unaware of his identity or business name.
“When I showed him my ID card, he was stunned,” Cristian Messi told Ara.cat.
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