Gerard Deulofeu wants Lionel Messi to win the World Cup

Gerard Deulofeu has always been known for speaking clearly and he has made no exception when he spoke to SPORT in the run-up to a historic World Cup in Qatar for many reasons. One of them is the possibility, perhaps for the last time, that Leo Messi becomes a world champion with Argentina, a fact that the Blaugrana youth player, currently in Italy with Udinese, admits that he would love to happen. Of course, his first hope is for Luis Enrique's Spain to win the trophy.

"First I would like the Spanish team to win and, if this doesn't happen, I would love to see Leo Messi lift this World Cup. As a football fan I would love it. It would be something out of the ordinary," he said. 

And Deulofeu thinks that he is the best footballer in history: "If someone still has any doubts, that there are very few left, it would be enough to end them all. It would also be perfect because he is in a team where he has teammates who are by his side, in an environment where all the players who play with him just want to lead him to win the World Cup. It's amazing. So imagine how comfortable he must feel. That's also one of the reasons why I see them as favourites."

Gerard, in fact, is clear about the two teams that start as favourites in Qatar: "I see very strong teams, very, very strong teams, from France, Belgium, England, including Serbia, Croatia... There are top level teams. Japan is a very good team too... Now, from there, there are two that are the clear favourites: Brazil and Argentina. They are at another level and are capable of overcoming any tie, however complicated it may be. For me this year, one of the two take the World Cup.”

Of course, he has plenty of praise for Spain: "We are going to assess the team after the World Cup because so far what we have seen is a great group stage in which they obtained very good results, the Euros semi-final, final four of the Nations League, qualified for the World Cup... What more can we ask for? I hear a lot of things, but after the World Cup you have to assess it because, to this day, the only thing you can say is that things have been done very beautifully during Luis Enrique’s time in charge".

Deulofeu has not lost hope of returning to La Roja’s squad one day: "I am more than ready for it."