Rodrigo De Paul farewell’s message to Leo Messi:
“I don’t know why, but in our first training session, we somehow found ourselves running together, just the two of us. I had to act like a normal teammate, so to speak.
Because at the end of the day, we were wearing the same shirt, but inside me there were so many emotions.
As the days went by, I think my personality always pushed me to get closer and break down those barriers.
I don’t know if I would do the same thing today if I were older, but I went and knocked on his door and spoke to him. We started sharing things together, mate, games of truco.
That’s when we started getting past that barrier of admiration. It stopped being simply admiration for an idol, and something much bigger began to form.
He made me grow not only as a footballer, but also as a person. I became a better person, a better human being, a better athlete, a better father, and a better friend.
I can see in my children’s eyes the pride that their father is a world champion. And I see it in my mother’s eyes when she talks about everything I’ve achieved. I have absolutely no doubt that none of it would have been possible without him.
In some way, I feel that every Argentine began to feel that they have a special connection with Messi. The rest of the world still sees him for what he is, that machine that never stops, the greatest player in history.
But anyone born in Argentina sees something else. Something that makes the connection feel like, ‘Leo and me. I know him. I know who he is.’ And that makes me very happy.
I want to tell him that I love him. He knows that, to me, he is my brother and that he has an enormous heart. The day of the match is going to hurt us a lot, and with all my heart, I hope he goes home carrying with him one of the greatest days of his life.
He has brought us together once again around one shared goal. And I hope we can show the world that he is the person we love more than anyone else.”