Jorge Messi, the father and agent of Argentine star Lionel Messi, died at the age of 68, after suffering from a health crisis that the family had been careful to keep out of the media.
Lionel Messi returned to the Argentine city of Rosario to participate in his father's funeral, accompanied by his wife Antonella and their children, amid an outpouring of grief and sympathy in the global sports community.
Inter Miami and Messi's teammates also made sure to honor him, at a time when the player missed his team's last match due to the death of his father.
As news of the death spread, attention quickly turned to Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi's historic rival, amid questions about whether the Portuguese star had contacted his former rival to offer his condolences.
In the past few hours, a post has circulated on the "X" platform claiming that Ronaldo called Messi by phone after his father's death, and that he addressed him with touching words about the difficulty of losing a father and the need to stay strong for the sake of the family.
The post garnered hundreds of thousands of views, before users began to question the authenticity of the statement attributed to the Portuguese national team captain.
There is, as yet, no official statement or coverage from reliable sports media confirming that Ronaldo made these words or made a phone call to Messi.
Therefore, attributing the statement to Ronaldo would be misleading; it is more accurate to describe it as an undocumented, circulating quote.
The rumors didn't stop with Ronaldo, as a video of Georgina Rodriguez, the Portuguese star's partner, circulated, accompanied by posts claiming that she spoke in it about the death of Jorge Messi.
The publications claimed that Georgina had informed Ronaldo of the news and that he intended to contact Messi and his family. They also claimed that she herself had spoken with Antonella Roccuzzo to offer her condolences.
However, a review of the circulated clip does not show any talk from Georgina about the death of Messi's father, which makes the text accompanying the video separate from its true content.
In other words, the video exists, but the words attributed to Georgina regarding Messi and his family are not part of what she says in the clip.
The story became even stranger because it coincided with a wave of widespread rumors about the personal lives of Ronaldo and Georgina.
Over the past few days, information has spread that the couple will hold a wedding ceremony in Madeira, prompting crowds of fans and media to gather in front of Funchal Cathedral in anticipation of the wedding ceremony.
But Ronaldo and Georgina did not appear there, and it turned out that the expected wedding did not take place, while Georgina appeared in a normal clip in sportswear, which increased the confusion among followers.
Reports also indicate that the wedding of another couple held in the same cathedral was disrupted by crowds waiting for Ronaldo and Georgina.
