10 things you need to know about Sergio Aguero

#7 Leonel, not Lionel

Messi and Aguero share the same name albeit with a minor difference

Aguero shares a name with a certain other Argentine forward who is one of his closest friends. As a kid, he was given the middle name of Leonel by his parents. If you’re wondering why it’s not the same spelling as a certain other Lionel, it’s because there was a law against the name in Buenos Aires where he was born and grew up.

Believe it or not but there are actual regulations about names that can be used in the South American country and Lionel was not on an approved list of names in the capital forcing his parents to pick ‘Leonel’ instead. However, no such law about the name existed in Rosario where Messi grew up, ergo the variation in the spelling.