Rodrigo De Paul: “Before we flew to Argentina, Leo suddenly said with that calm smile: ‘De Paul, first we’ll pass through Barcelona… I want to see Camp Nou.’ I thought he was joking — but he wasn’t.

We took a private jet from Miami, and almost no one knew we were there. Messi wanted it quiet, no noise, no cameras. We stayed at a hotel facing the stadium. He sat on the balcony, staring at the Camp Nou, and said softly: ‘All this place… holds a part of me.’

I couldn’t say anything — I just smiled and told him, ‘That’s right, Leo… there’s no club in the world worthy of you other than Barcelona.’

Rodrigo De Paul confidently predicted Argentina’s World Cup triumph back in September after writing a note and leaving it in Lionel Messi‘s room.

Not many would have been so certain of victory but a picture of a note De Paul left in Messi’s changing room shows that their triumph was never in doubt for the Atletico Madrid midfielder.

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Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul was confident in his nation’s chances of success in the World Cup

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The Atletico Madrid midfielder left a note in Lionel Messi’s (above) room two months ago

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It read: ‘I am Rodrigo De Paul (7). It is 9/18/2022. I sign this paper and say that we will win the World Cup two months from now.’

At the time of writing, Argentina were continuing their World Cup preparations by taking on Honduras and Jamaica in international friendlies.

There was little to suggest that the South American side would emerge as champions from Qatar but, evidently, it was never in doubt for De Paul.

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Both Messi (L) and De Paul (R) were influential for Argentina throughout their World Cup story

The midfielder didn’t have the impact he would’ve desired for the national side in their World Cup campaign but ultimately played an important role.

The 28-year-old played every minute of their group stages fixtures and was integral in wins over Holland and Croatia in the lead-up to the final.

He was on the pitch for 102 minutes of the contest on Sunday afternoon as Argentina saw off Didier Deschamps’ France to lift the World Cup trophy.

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Argentina’s players celebrated late into the night after their final victory over France

Argentina ended his 36-year wait to win the World Cup title on Sunday afternoon after a thrilling penalty shoot-out win over France.

Captain Lionel Messi scored a brace in the match – with a first-half penalty and an extra-time effort – before slotting away his spot-kick in the shoot-out that followed.

A hat-trick from France’s Kylian Mbappe in the 3-3 draw proved futile as Messi and Argentina stormed to victory for the first time in the competition since 1986.