Pico Lopes has revealed the biggest moment of Cape Verde’s magical World Cup run.

The Shamrock Rovers defender was in the RTÉ studio ahead of Argentina’s Round of 16 clash against Egypt, as he returned to Ireland a hero of two countries, having represented Ireland and Cape Verde so well over the past month in America.

‘Yeah, it was brilliant,’ Pico Lopes said about the support he received from Ireland. ‘The support I received from back home was overwhelming. I’ve been blown away as well since I’ve come home. Over there, I definitely felt like I was representing two countries. So having that sort of support from back home gives you a real big boost.

Cape Verde were handed a tough task coming into North America, where they faced two former World Champions in the group stages in Spain and Uruguay, as well as the reigning champs Argentina once they reached the knockouts.

When asked what stood out the most, Lopes revealed that it was the challenge of getting out of such a difficult group on paper that will live long in the memory.

‘We were lucky that we played against, like, some top-quality opposition: Yamal, Pedri, Messi and Martinez of this world,’ Lopes said in the RTÉ studio. ‘The moment for me that stood out was when we got out of the group stages against Saudi Arabia. We were given a 1% chance to get out of the group.

‘And we were at 1% at the end of the day, and that was sort of our motivation going through the group stages, and thus the celebrations after that when we achieved that were a surreal feeling.’

Cape Verde came into the tournament as the second-smallest nation ever to qualify, and Lopes felt that the unknown quantity helped them throughout the month.

‘I’d say a lot of people were unaware of us, maybe not watch a bit of us, but we were quietly confident going in that we could cause upsets, and we could definitely compete at this level, and that’s something that we wanted to prove: that we could be competitive, and go out there and give good performances.

‘And we knew it’d be difficult; we were in a really hard group, two previous World Cup winners, but we believed we could get out of a group, and when we achieved that, to come up against, in my opinion, the greatest to ever do it, was amazing.’

The extra-time defeat to Argentina was sensational, and Pico Lopes shed a bit more light on his exchange with Lionel Messi at halftime. ‘Yeah, it was nothing, really,’ he explained.

‘So, I see him come into my eyeline, and I just gave him a little push, just to make sure he was real. I had to touch him to make sure he was a human, like, and he didn’t take too kindly to it, and he was just saying, he said it in Spanish, he said, “Lopes, that’s a foul. There’s no ball. Don’t touch me.”

‘I just thought he was trying to take me off my game, and I gave it no mind, and he just kept going, and then the referee blew for half-time, and I just said to him “Look, I just need to touch you to make sure they’re there, because they were behind me, I’m in big trouble, like,” and then just shook hands and went on.’

It’s a surreal journey Lopes has gone on from working at Permanent TSB to facing Messi in the World Cup knockouts, but there doesn’t look to be a player who deserves the attention more.

When asked about his club return, Pico Lopes said he’ll be straight back into things as Shamrock Rovers face off against Maltese side Floriana in the Champions League qualifiers.