Leo Messi's got a brand new tattoo, and it's… it's something. The 29-year-old Argentine has drastically changed his appearance over the last few years, moving from clean-cut boy-next-door to tatted, bearded blond Man-Messi. Here's how his appearance has shifted over the last decade.
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Clean Cut Messi
No tats, no hair dye, just Carles Puyol-esque shoulder-length hair. This is vintage 2006 boy-Messi.
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His very first ink
2011 saw Messi win his third Ballon d'Or, and it also saw him get inked for the very first time with this tribute to Mama Messi on his back.
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A New Messi Has Arrived
2012 brought a whole new frontier for Lionel. He celebrated the birth of his first son, Thiago, and commemorated the occasion by inking his calf up with a depiction of his child's hand prints and his name.
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"I'm starting to get into this" Messi
Maybe it was his friendship with Neymar, or maybe he just really figured out he loves ink, but Messi made some further additions to the original Thiago tattoo, making it nearly a full leg sleeve.
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Don't forget the arms, bro
Messi didn't just ink up his leg, he made sure his arm got some love too, adding a sleeve on his right appendage to take his tally up to one (1) leg sleeve, one (1) arm sleeve, and one (1) back tat.
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He really loves that left leg
Just like on the pitch, Messi's ignored his right peg in favor of the magic wand that is his left. He added some embellishments to the left leg, adding to the ink that was already there.
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Just another view of the tatted-up magic wand.
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The latest update
Messi's most recent ink sees him go almost full blackout, outlining the No. 10 and Thiago's prayer hands, but getting rid of nearly everything else.
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Up close and personal
It's… it's a tattoo, that's for sure. Maybe this one will grow on us like the blond hair did?
