De Paul carries the piano as Argentina claim World Cup title

In Argentina’s six matches before the World Cup, Rodrigo De Paul, 28, was only on the field for 90 minutes in the friendly against the United Arab Emirates, on November 16.

It may seem like a banal fact because, with the exception of the first Conmebol-Uefa final, when the South American team beat Italy 3-0, all other games were not worth three points. They were tests.

For leaders of the AFA (Argentine Football Association) and people close to the Argentine national team, it was a message given by Lionel Scaloni to his player.

The coach relied (and a lot) on the tireless ability of the Atlético de Madrid midfielder to run on the field and do his best for the cause. But he was concerned about his declining performance and off-pitch problems.

Earlier this year, AFA president Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia himself raised the possibility of De Paul missing the World Cup because of a lawsuit.

“To go to Qatar, what you can’t have is a criminal complaint with a pending conviction, a gender issue or something similar,” said the top hat, in an interview for Urbana Play radio, in Buenos Aires.

De Paul was in the middle of an asset division and child support lawsuit filed by his ex-wife Camila Homs, while he was already dating singer Tini Stoessel. He was later photographed leaving nightclubs before matches, and this did not sit well with the coaching staff.

Scaloni never broached the subject, but not having De Paul, despite his technical fickleness, would be a sore loss. That’s because he plays the role of carrying the piano for 90 minutes so that Lionel Messi can move around the field wherever he wants. One of the reasons why Argentina will decide the world title this Sunday (18), against France, at 12:00 (Brasília time).

“Rodrigo plays a role that it’s hard to find another player to do nowadays”, defined Scaloni before the trip to Qatar.

In all of Argentina’s games so far in Qatar, he has run the most. On average, it’s 12 kilometers per game. In his debut, against Saudi Arabia, he had a poor performance that ended in defeat. When it got better, after the match against Mexico, the team grew together. Although the greatest merit goes to Lionel Messi, of course.

In the group stage, De Paul was the player who most attempted passes in the national team (384), with 88% accuracy and was the third who most recovered balls (21). More important than that, he is the main link to get the ball to Messi and also who receives the most passes from the number 10.

Rodrigo De Paul is one of the symbols of the Scaloni era and the image of the renewal that Argentina has undergone since the failure of Jorge Sampaoli’s group at the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

The following year, the midfielder received his first call-up. And, for him, occupying the role that others have failed to perform in the past, that of “Messi’s partner in the national team”, is a role he assumes with pleasure.

“I always wanted to have an important job in the teams, I was never one to go unnoticed. But in the national team we have a leader who is very great, a very important figure, someone who, in addition to playing the way he plays, with the word already simplifies everything”, stated.

He was also responsible for Scaloni’s only disagreement with the press in his country during the World Cup. Some websites and newspapers published that, because of a muscle injury, the player would not only be out of the quarterfinals against the Netherlands, but would not play in this World Cup anymore.

“I don’t know where these things come from. Training was closed, and Rodrigo participated in it. Let’s see if he’s going to play or not”, challenged the coach.

De Paul started in the starting line-up and was substituted 21 minutes into the second half. There is no indication from the technician that the midfielder will not be selected for this Sunday’s final.