Rodrigo De Paul has commented on Lionel Messi’s retirement from the Argentina national team.
De Paul posted on his Instagram about Lionel Messi retiring. Here is what he had to say:
“There’s something that for all these years I always wanted: for every Argentine to know who you really are.
“How you are when there are no cameras, when there are no stadiums, when it’s simply you.
“You never liked that too much; you always felt that your boots were the best way to speak and that inside a field was where you had to show everything you felt for your country.
“And I was lucky enough to see everything that was behind it.
“Every training camp, every night before a final, the pressure, the fear, the doubts, the criticism. I saw you go through moments that would have been too much for anyone and get up the next day and keep going, without excuses, without pointing fingers at anyone, without needing to explain who you were.
“Because if there’s one thing that never changed in you, it was the love for this jersey and for this country. A love that made you get up again and again when it seemed there was nothing left to prove.
“That’s why what you did for the national team goes far beyond the goals and the titles we won… and that’s a lot, huh.
“I always wanted them to admire you for who you are and not just for what you do. Those of us who know you know that you’re immense on the field but even more so off it.
“And I think today Argentina finally knows it.
“I don’t know if there’s a love story as big between a player and a country as the one you built. Having been able to live it by your side is something I’ll carry with me my whole life. Seeing you walk with the 10 and the captain’s armband in front of us was feeling that you were taking care of us, that no matter what happened, there was one up front who was going to give everything for us.
“And we did it, brother.
“We were WORLD CHAMPIONS.
“Over the years, I understood that maybe the most beautiful thing wasn’t just lifting that cup. It was that we never stopped being ourselves.The laughs, the trips, the training camps, and those things no one saw that for me were the most important.
“How lucky I was to be by your side in one of the most important moments of our history.
“Thank you for everything you did for us and for Argentina.
“Thank you for letting me know the Leo I always wanted everyone to know. The one who doesn’t need the 10, or the armband, or a field to be a giant.
“I love you, brother.
“What pride to have lived it together!”
