Rodrigo De Paul was only a few years old when his grandfather Osvaldo took him to train at Racing’s Predio Tita Mattiussi, in Sarandí. When practice ended, Osvaldo would give him a few coins so he could buy chewy candies at the snack bar. His grandson accepted them happily, without asking anything. What De Paul didn’t know — and took years to discover — was that those coins were his bus fare back home. His grandfather went without a ticket so he could have his candies, and walked back alone for 50 or 60 blocks, from Avellaneda to his neighborhood. 🚶♂️
Osvaldo died in 2009, when Rodrigo was 14 years old. The blow was so hard that the boy left soccer and school for a while. Today he wears a tattoo on his left wrist with the phrase “forever in my heart” and every time he steps onto the field or scores a goal, he kisses that tattoo. It’s not just a superstition: it’s a hug he sends to someone who can no longer receive it. The story was revealed by his mother, Mónica Ferrarotti, in an interview with journalist Maite Peñoñori. 💙
At the 2021 Copa América the superstition became a team ritual with Leandro Paredes and the squad — De Paul eats exactly 14 candies before every match, Paredes eats 7, and Scaloni admits to downing 40 Sugus with absolutely no shame. They traveled to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with 270 bags. For the 2026 one in Dallas, the ritual was repeated at AT&T Stadium. Argentina, world champion thanks, in part, to some candies that once cost a grandfather his bus fare. 🏆🍬