Lionel Messi makes his family’s dreams come true on a surprise trip to Disneyland

Lionel Messi took advantage of some free time this week to take his family on a surprise trip to Disneyland.

The Argentine superstar, who was rested from Barcelona’s 1-0 Catalan Super Cup defeat to Espanyol on Wednesday, crossed the border from Spain to France to visit the Paris theme park.

The trip was captured in a selfie by Messi’s partner, Antonella Roccuzzo, who posted the photo of her, Lionel, and their two sons, Thiago and Mateo, on Instagram.

The day seemed to have surprised Ms Roccuzzo as much as it did her followers, as the photo was captioned: “We love @leomessi Disneyland. Thank you for this beautiful surprise!!!”

It is a rare public photo of the family of four together, after the birth of Messi’s youngest son, Mateo, in September last year.

While his family enjoyed his presence, Messi’s teammates certainly missed him as they lost by a single goal to their city rivals.

Messi, who scored a hat-trick in the Champions League against Manchester City, took a family break.

Former Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo’s goal was enough to separate the teams in Tarragona as Barca manager Luis Enrique made many changes to the usual starting XI, with Neymar and Luis Suarez also rested.

Messi has been in excellent form since his recent return from injury, including a hat-trick in Barcelona’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City in the Champions League.

He was sidelined for three weeks in late September and early October with a groin injury, but has since scored six goals in three games.

Barcelona currently occupies third place in La Liga with 19 points from nine games.