Messi's mum: 'We know that Leo has a debt with Argentina'

After Lionel Messi won his sixth Ballon d'Or, the Barcelona captain's mum, Celia Cuccittini, spoke to CNN Radio about her son's latest success and the debt he has with the Argentina national team. 

The Messi family are usually very discrete but Messi's mum was convinced to speak to CNN following the forward's success in Paris on Monday night. 

"I'm always moved," she said of Messi's latest Ballon d'Or triumph. "What his career has been... It doesn't stop surprising us every day what he achieves. And above all, how he is as a person, which is the main thing." 

She continued: "I am super happy, we didn't expect this prize. We thought the fifth had been his last. It's a beautiful surprise." 

Cuccittini added that she was disappointed she wasn't in Barcelona this week and that, if she'd have known he would definitely win the prize, she would have made sure she was in the Catalan capital. 

Meanwhile, she also referred to the criticism her son sometimes received: "The truth is that it hurts me. Because you (the press) can criticise without offending, without mocking. Obviously, as a mother, that hurts me." 

Finally, Celia admitted that Messi, and even his family, are aware that he has unfinished business in an Argentina shirt ahead of next summer's Copa America. 

"We know, he knows, the whole family knows, that he has a debt with Argentina," she said. "But who more than him would want to win a World Cup, a Copa America?"