Palakkad: Social media followers of Argentina football star Lionel Messi run into millions worldwide. However, there are very few Instagram pages that Messi himself follows. In an unusual instance, an Instagram page run by Palakkad Chandranagar natives S. Sandhra and S. Snigdha has been followed by Messi for the past nine months. The page is dedicated to the name of Messi’s life partner Antonela Roccuzzo.

Sandhra and Snigdha are the daughters of S. Sasidharan and P.K. Sharmila of Sandharnam (house name). The idea of starting a page emerged during the COVID-19 period while they were at home, considering a page dedicated to their admiration for Messi. It later evolved into focusing on Antonela. In 2021, they launched an Instagram page titled ‘antonelagallery’, centred on Antonela’s role in Messi’s life, sharing images, videos and stories about Messi and his family.  

The page also featured Messi’s matches and records, drawing attention from Argentina supporters. It now has around 399K followers. In 2025, Antonela began visiting the page and followed it in March. It was after sharing news that Messi was coming to Kerala that the page gained further attention. On 23 August 2025, Messi himself followed the page. 

In December, when Messi visited India, both sisters travelled to Mumbai and saw him from a distance. They had also enquired via message to Antonela asking whether she would be coming to Kerala. She replied that she could not, adding that she was happy to receive the message. A video they posted from Mumbai was later liked by Antonela. The page has shared around 2,000 images and several thousand stories.

Sandhra is a graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Snigdha is a second-year student of Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering in Ernakulam.