The story behind the friendship of Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul

To understand the relationship between Lionel Messi Y Rodrigo De Paul it is necessary to travel at the beginning of the cycle Lionel Scaloni as national coach. There is the conductive wire trigger. The DT was an assistant of George Sampaoli in the World Cup in Russia and then timidly announced as provisional to reorganize a roster that had no generational turnover and a group of exhausted stars that made up the red circle. As team leader, he gave everyone a “rest” and started quoting many of those who are in Qatar today, but who had no experience at the time.

With a group of “novelties” forming the nucleus of Scaloni, the selection began to take shape and, little by little, heavy surnames began to return. Messi, with World Cups and records behind him, wore the blue-and-whites again and joined a group that was making his first shots in the national team. For the majority, there were no lost endings, no “unfinished business”.

The Argentine captain was a deity without the trusted network that knew his habits and moods. De Paul was barely visible. He crossed it for the first time on a field: a photo before Valencia – Barcelona photographed them and Rodrigo posted it on his social networks as a dream come true. How not to be encouraged to ask for a photo, if just a year earlier – just turned 19 – he had asked his Racing technician for the number 10?

With the same momentum he broke the ice when Messi told Scaloni that he was ready to resume his participation with the national team. The arrival of the Barcelona crack represented a new sensation in the rest of the squad. Messi was with them, he was a teammate. But they didn’t know how to deal with it.

“An afternoonafter a training session I saw that he moved away, he didn’t stay with us. I thought something might have messed it up so I went to shower then went up to the rooms and mate. It had been 40 minutes, so I knocked on his door: ‘Let’s drink mate and make a joke?‘” says he asked her to marry him. “Go ahead,” Messi replied. So she broke the ice and started a relationship.

“Over time you understand the moments, when yes, when no, we all have problems: that your children call you, that they miss you, anything can happen. We understand each other a lot from that side and that’s why the relationship we have,” De Paul explained many years after that founding moment in an interview with Star+.

That custom is a seal. “We get up very early in the morning and always drink mate. Even if someone else gets up earlier, they cannot come, custom must be respected. We started Leo (Messi), Papu (Gómez), me, then Fide (Di María) appeared, then Lea (Paredes), Gio (Lo Celso) and finally Nico Otamendi. Must be that order. If you get up at 8 in the morning because you can’t sleep, well, do something else. There is an order of arrival ”, she concluded in the same interview.

“Rodrigo’s Gil”

The mate thing is key. Strong nerves also for De Paul. The Atlético Madrid midfielder has publicly questioned Messi’s gift as a primer. “Is it true, Leo, that you are not a good starter partner?” the journalist Sebastián Vignolo wanted to know in an interview. “Rodrigo’s gil killed me saying I made bad dunks”answered the Flea, revealing the trust between them.

“The dwarf has improved a lot. Before he got a little tired, it didn’t give him so much dynamism. Then one day we said to him with the Papu: ‘And Leo? Today you do those washings’. The companions are terrible”, said De Paul laughing, in another interview with Germán Paoloski.

“I call him El Pequeño, sometimes. He is a normal person. Yes, it’s true that he moves a lot, but he likes that you treat him like this, that you fuck him, feeling in a place where he, Leo, and not Messi can be. Same Today I think I get it and I don’t screw it up so much. There are moments where I understand that you have to leave him alone for a while,” admits De Paul.

friendshipAt this point, it seems to be captivating. But does not take away the influence that La Pulga has on the group. He is the captain, but also the best player in the world and has the last word. When Argentina beat Brazil in the Copa América final at the Maracana, it was Paul who started a harangue from the stands with the Brazilians as recipients.

In the midst of the celebrations, from the euphoria of having lifted a cup for the first time with the senior national team, he didn’t remove the 10 from his axis. “Brazilian, Brazilian”, Paul began to sing and before pronouncing the next verse , Messi looked at him, moved his left index finger and said emphatically: “no, no”. Just enough for De Paul to shut up. Friends are friends, but leadership doesn’t distinguish friendships.