Lionel Messi’s World Cup ‘bodyguard’ Rodrigo De Paul has revealed he feared his tournament was over before a chat with the Argentina captain.

Atletico Madrid’s De Paul ended up as one of the stars of Qatar 2022, turning around some poor group stage performances to shine in the knockouts.

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Getty

Much of that was due to his ability to work for Messi, covering ground for the Paris Saint-Germain star, whilst ensuring he got the ball, and wouldn’t be tackled.

That saw him given the nickname as Messi’s ‘bodyguard’ during the tournament, something a tag he certainly lived up to.

Their partnership ended up being crucial as Argentina won their third World Cup, but things could have been very different when an injury scare left manager Lionel Scaloni terrified.

“I got injured,” De Paul told Fox Sports via AS. “It was a play two days before the game, in a small game, I felt something behind me.

“When they did the examinations I saw that I had hurt myself. It didn’t rupture, but I had like a grade one strain.

“It was on the last play of training. I never hurt myself, I never broke a muscle.

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“When the play is over, the coach approaches me and asks me ‘what happened to you?’, and I tell him ‘I don’t know, I felt something behind’. I tell him: ‘No, I don’t know what it is’.”

Seeking advice on whether he should risk the ailment, De Paul turned to Messi, who told him not to take any risks.

According to De Paul, Messi responded: “Rodri, don’t play, stupid. I promise you that I will help you reach the semi-final, but don’t risk it because you will most likely be left out.”

Eventually, though, it was his partner Tini Stoessel who made the difference.

@rodridepaul

“I went into the dressing room, I didn’t want to talk to anyone,” he said.

“All of that had leaked out, it had my mom and dad worried. I tell them that nothing is wrong.

“I call Tini, because she doesn’t even know what a goal is worth. She began to soak up football with me, because I sometimes comment to her, she said ‘I am going to support you, I decided with my heart, that you will not regret it’.”

Things weren’t looking good for De Paul as he tested the injury again, but the day before the game things suddenly improved, much to his manager’s relief.

“I couldn’t try,” he said. “I go and do four sprints and it hurts, but it was a pain that I could bear.

“The biggest fear that gave me was that it was almost certainly going to break . At one point it clicked and said ‘I tried’.

@rodridepaul

“I ran three strong times and nothing happened to me. Then we made some passes, I was going long so that I was close.”

Showing just how important De Paul was to Argentina, he claims Scaloni told him “Forgive me that I have to talk to you like this, but if I have to remove you from the team, I have to kill myself.”

De Paul eventually started against the Netherlands, but his impact was shown once again, when his side gave up a 2-0 lead after he was substituted in the 66th minute.

Messi kept his word, though, scoring in the shootout to help send Argentina through, and the rest was history.