Rivals have struggled to keep up with Lionel Messi at the World Cup, but one player is always close.
Rodrigo de Paul is dubbed “Messi’s bodyguard” – or bodyguard in Norwegian – and is always close to the star player. In training, at the match or when the players are relaxing in the hotel.
– I would go to war for him, – de Paul said earlier about their relationship.
– He is always on Messi’s side. Crazy to watch. They clearly have a close bond, both on and off the field, says NRK football expert Kristoffer Løkberg.
Argentina’s World Cup dream rests on Messi’s shoulders, but De Paul has become the man to lift the weights for him.
– If things go wrong for Messi, he has de Paul, says NRK football expert Aggie Haredy ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final.
Journalist, expert and author for TV 2 La Liga Guillem Balague follows Messi closely and has already published a book about the Argentine in 2013.
Balague himself did not use this word Personal guard But it’s clear that De Paul is important to Messi on and off the field.
– Messi needs people around him he can trust. He needs balance in his life and he needs someone to protect him. At one time it was Louis, for example Suarez, and other players in Barcelona. He now says it’s de Paul Palajoy to NRK.
Committed: Guillem Balague knows Lionel Messi very well.
Photo: Roy Kenneth Sydney Jacobsen/NRK
Foot follower Messi
The “bodyguard” character began when Messi was surrounded by Honduras players after a match in September. The cameras caught that someone in the opposition support equipment grabbed Messi’s arm, but then de Paul snapped his arm, pulled it away and gave a clear message: ‘You don’t do it like that’.
The episode made people watch. Pictures show how De Paul is always closest to Messi on the training ground, when Argentina run out to warm up before the match and during the warm-up itself.
– It’s one I’d like to have “Personal guard” He’s the same, so I get the sense that Messi feels safe with de Paul near him, Luckberg says.
CLOSURE: Messi and De Paul follow each other closely during the World Cup.
Photo: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
And who was there when Messi faced the Dutch coaches after the quarter-finals?
Yes, De Paul, who, unlike the others, did not try to come between Messi and the Dutch, but focused on Van Gaal. Like I said, he fights the “war” for the team leader.
Rodrigo de Paul is never far away when Messi is in trouble.
Messi’s dream player
Lots of jokes about the bodyguard, but the work de Paul does for Messi on the pitch is invaluable to Argentina. A man with a giant tiger tattooed on his back takes a good bite on the grass.
– I care a lot about Leo, and he cares about me, – said de Paul the athlete before the water cycle.
He is among the players who run the longest, participate in the most duels and win the ball back the most at the World Cup. Messi, on the other hand, is among the World Cup players who go out the most on the field. De Paul literally runs after Messi.
– he is It ensures that Argentina have better balance than before, says Haredy of the Atletico Madrid player.
– He is the player Messi dreams of having by his side. He runs across the wall to make his teammate shine and look good. It’s impressive—the counters he lays out, the rooms he covers, Luckberg adds.
Close friends: De Paul and Messi relax together during a training session in Argentina.
Photo: Juan Mabrumata/AFP
De Paul is the player who made Messi the ball more focused in the World Cup, and vice versa. And perhaps not surprisingly, since De Paul is also the player who is closest to Messi in his position on the pitch and allows him to shine. Messi loses the ball with one of his ingenious inventions, de Paul running clean.
– There is only a small distance between us, de Paul explains about his turn.
– I analyze as he plays, thinking about how to ensure he gets as little wear and tear as possible and as much room to play in. The dialogue between us continues. He continues: We understand each other at a glance.
EYE CONTACT: Messi and De Paul have good chemistry both on and off the field.
Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH/Reuters
I cut into Aguero’s pass
The close relationship continues off the field. Every morning, two or more players gather to drink a traditional South American drink feed. But De Paul also knows when to give Messi some breathing room.
– From time to time he goes off the field on his own after a training session. Then I take a shower, make food and an hour later I knock on his door. Then it’s okay. With time, you understand these moments, de Paul tells The Athletic
Former Argentine star Sergio Aguero is streaming on Twitch during the World Cup. One day he had Messi and Papu Gomez as guests on the broadcast, but here also De Paul appeared.
He suddenly storms out, kissing his head, before posing with his hands clasped in the back of the picture – just like a ‘bodyguard’.
From Doha with Love: Bodyguard De Paul shows his loving side to Messi and Baub Gomez.
De Paul is used to not being the main character in the secret either. He, along with singer Martina Stoessel, has been named Artist of the Year in Argentina several times. From 2017 to 2021, she was the country’s most streamed artist on Spotify, with her most popular song having nearly half a billion plays. She has nearly 20 million followers on Instagram, more than twice the number of De Paul.
More cleaning boys
Next to him in midfield, De Paul has a set-off partner Enzo Fernandez. He was supposed to play second fiddle to the World Cup, but after Giovanni Lo Celso got injured, the 21-year-old put on work gloves.
Leandro Paredes has also made an effort that qualifies as a bodyguard:
– Argentina He built a midfield with several players who were cut short. The usual thing is to have a mix, with one taking care of the defensive end. In Argentina, there are two that do this. The area behind Messi in particular is a dangerous area where you can lose the ball, Hareid says.
But De Paul is not just a tall man with muscles of steel and lungs of iron. He became the link in the Argentine national team, and among the midfielders of the semifinals, only Croatian Marcelo Brozovic (466) managed more assists than De Paul (410).
Hareed points out that Kylian Mbappe plays a similar role to Messi for France. In a World Cup final, he believes we will see two teams waiting for their star to come up with something decisive.
– What I fear in that final is that there are two tanks facing each other, and then they have Mbappe and Messi who can cause an imbalance. Therefore, the balance that De Paul guarantees is very important for Argentina, says NRK’s football expert.
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