Within this Argentina side, Rodrigo de Paul has grown into a figure similar to what José Manuel Pinto represented at Barcelona, or what Luis Suárez would later become: the companion who makes Messi feel instantly at ease.
Their bond was built during time with the national team. Before that, the midfielder’s only link to Messi had been requesting a snapshot after a Valencia–Barcelona fixture, an image he shared proudly on his social channels.
One day, he saw Messi walk away from the training pitch by himself, looking a bit low. Worried, De Paul hung back for roughly 40 minutes, then knocked on his door.
“Up for a mate and a hand of truco?”
A friendship took root, carrying its own quiet rituals. Mate, the shared drink, happens each morning in De Paul’s room. The order of arrival is firm: Leo first, then other squad members. If anyone stirs too early, they must wait until the right moment to head to De Paul’s space; nobody is allowed to break the rhythm.
De Paul will sometimes call Messi ‘El Pequeno’ (the little one), despite him being the eldest in the room.
He teases him, interacts with him as an ordinary person rather than a living monument, because deep down that is usually what Messi craves: to exist as Leo, not the icon. De Paul also reads him well enough to recognise the times when he needs space.
When they step onto the field, Messi takes the lead, De Paul right beside him, the rest of the squad spreading outward behind them almost in a V — like a tight-knit crew shielding its leader.
For much of this generation, Messi was never simply a colleague first; he was the childhood hero flickering on the screen, the reason some of them ever started kicking a ball.
The entire squad wears the same footwear, the Adidas Adistar Messi. For his June birthday, the players donned a T-shirt bearing a picture of themselves beside Leo, taken from some moment across his long journey with the national side.
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