Lionel Messi's girlfriend hospitalised

Buenos Aires: The pregnant girlfriend of Argentine football idol Lionel Messi has been hospitalised with a urinary infection.

Antonella Roccuzzo, 27, was admitted early on Tuesday at Hospital Español in Messi's native city of Rosario, Efe reported.

The infection does not pose any threat to her pregnancy, the official Telam news agency sources said, which added that Messi arrived at the hospital during the afternoon.

However, the hospital personnel said Roccuzzo's name was not listed on the register.

Messi, Roccuzzo and the couple's two-year-old son, Thiago, travelled to Rosario after last weekend's Copa America final in Chile, where the host nation beat Messi-led Argentina on penalty shoot-out.

The man regarded by many as the world's best footballer plays professionally for Spain's FC Barcelona.