For a while there it seemed as though Lionel Scaloni’s decision to replace Angel di Maria would be a moment remembered for eternity as having denied Argentina and Lionel Messi their crowning moment.
The World Cup final had been a one-sided affair with Di Maria on the pitch. The 34-year-old had been scintillating in the final third, taking on and beating French defenders at will. It was he who turned around Ousmane Dembele and won the penalty which put Argentina ahead. Then he doubled the lead with an emphatic finish from Alexis Mac Allister’s pass.
He continued to be Argentina’s most vibrant outlet. If Messi was the man of the key moments, the man of destiny, Di Maria was the one who made it all happen. Had Argentina won the game 2-0, the Juventus star would rightly have been receiving much of the acclaim in the post-match hubbub.
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But the Kylian Mbappe-inspired twists in the tail led to Di Maria’s contribution largely being glossed over. A crazy ending to the game, along with the drama of penalties, meant that Di Maria’s 64-minute masterclass was a forgotten relic. Such is the multimedia world of football these days, his pained expressions on the bench will probably live as long in the memory as his sensational performance.
The truth, though, is that Di Maria was wonderful. It’s just typical that his display should be overlooked given his career to this point. This is a guy who played brilliantly while out of position to help Real Madrid finally win their long-awaited 10th Champions League – La Decima – in 2014. He was then a fixture of successful Paris Saint-Germain teams, and his 129 Argentina caps make him one of the most storied players in this great footballing nation’s long history. He just doesn’t get the credit sometimes.
🎯 Olympic Games final
🎯 Continental Cup final
🎯 World Cup final
El Fideo 🫶👏
Perhaps he’d be rated more highly in the UK were it not for his ill-fated one-year stint at Manchester United in 2014-15, his British record transfer fee of £59.7 million becoming an issue with every poor performance. Louis van Gaal was probably the wrong manager to attempt to get the best out of the Argentine, and once his Prestbury mansion was broken into in the early spring Di Maria had basically checked out and would later have pretty derisory things to say about Van Gaal, United and Manchester itself.
He refused to board a plane to United’s pre-season tour of the USA after his trip to the Copa America final with Argentina, and before long he was heading to PSG instead. In the French capital he was again a vital part of a successful club, but sharing a stage with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and later on Messi was never going to result in Di Maria being identified as the key to glory.
A player who recently suffered a third horrifying break-in in three different cities – his family were held hostage in a raid of his Turin home in October – has delivered on the biggest stage despite basically being half-fit. He hasn’t played 90 minutes for Juventus in Serie A since September due to troublesome abductor and bicep injuries. And yet he was the man of the final for the first hour.
Once he was replaced by Marcos Acuna, Argentina were more circumspect. From having not a single attempt in 72 minutes, France suddenly became an attacking threat, and Mbappe was allowed to have the effect on the game that many had expected pre-game.
Let’s not skirt over yet another stellar performance from Di Maria. He laid the platform for Argentina’s triumph, and but for his recent injury problems he might well have been there to see it through long before extra-time and penalties.
