Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi donates £200,000 to youth club in his hometown of Rosario for new football pitch

LIONEL MESSI has donated some £200,000 to help recover a football pitch and sports facility in his native Argentina.

The Barcelona icon is not short of a bob or two having banked an astonishing £65million last year to sit second in the world’s sport rich list.

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And now he has handed over some cash through his foundation to help the next generation of Argentina superstars come through the ranks.

Mundo Deportivo report the money will go to helping repair the facilities of a sports club in Lanus, in Messi’s hometown of Rosario.

Damian Sala is secretary of sports in capital Buenos Aires and said: “We are very grateful to the Messi Foundation because it allows us to do great work for the boys.

“This is a very important achievement because it is the first time that an entity of this size has made a major investment in Lanus.”

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Messi's foundation was set up in 2007 and has a special focus on helping children and youths who may be disadvantaged.

Its activities are not limited to just Argentina and money is donated all over the world.

Messi - who scored in the 6-0 rout of Alaves yesterday - has certainly been in the mood to splash some cash recently.

He bought his neighbour's house in the plush Spanish region of Castelldefels to have some more peace and quiet.

Not to be outdone though, arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo last week saved 80 dogs and stepped in to help save a Portuguese kennel from closure.