Lionel Messi revealed the five current favourite footballers of his three sons - with only one plying their trade in the . As a football fan, it doesn't get better than having the Argentine icon as your father to look up to.

But in the case of the 37-year-old's children, they have their own choices of players they admire in the current game. The Inter Miami talisman opened up on who his sons, Thiago, 12, Mateo, 9, and Ciro, 7, follow the most in a recent interview with Simplemente Futbol. Four of the stars play in - the league Messi spent the first 17 years of his professional career - with Real Madrid duo and and Barcelona's lethal pairing of Robert Lewandowski and among the favourites.

The sole representative of English football is Erling Haaland, with 's sons showing their penchant for attacking players in their five-man list. After the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner made the move to Miami in 2023, all three of his children joined the club's academy.

While it's wholly unlikely Messi can follow in LeBron James' footsteps and have one of his sons as a team-mate, the forward has not ruled out continuing his illustrious career until 2026 - the year of the World Cup.

Having finally hoisted the trophy in 2022 that had long been absent from his trophy cabinet, speculation arose around whether the Argentina captain will retire from international duty or lead his country in the defence of the World Cup in the next edition of the competition.

Messi remained an important figure in the team as he scored six goals and contributed three assists in nine qualifying games, with the reigning champions already securing their place for the tournament that will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

While he stopped short of ruling out what would be a record-breaking sixth World Cup appearance next year, he admitted he doesn't want to commit to stamping his place in the team just yet. He added in the interview: "The truth is, if you stop and think about it, it feels far away.

"But at the same time, time flies. I'll see how I feel. Of course I think about it, but I don't want to set goals either."