Di Maria, Angel

Early years

Angel Di Maria was born on February 14, 1988 in Rosario in the family of Miguel and Diana Di Maria. The family was not rich. Angel's parents worked in a coal warehouse and from early childhood both he and his two sisters helped them ^[5] .

Di Maria started playing football on the recommendation of a doctor, as he was a very active child and needed sports to put his energy somewhere ^[6] . He began his performances at the age of 7 as part of his hometown team “Atletico El Torito ”, from where at the age of 13 he moved to Rosario Central . It was in this club that first declared itself. At the age of 17, Di Maria made his debut in the games for the main team of his team in a match with Independiente in the last round of Aperture 2005 . A couple of years later, European clubs became interested in him. Among them was the Russian “ Ruby ”, with whom the footballer practically reached an agreement on the transition in early 2007, but Angel changed his mind at the very last moment ^[7] .

Benfica

After an excellent performance and victory at the 2007 World Youth Championship (during the tournament, the player scored 3 goals) Di Maria bought the Portuguese Benfica for 6 million euros ^[8] . Benfica president Luís Felipe Vieira said he’s buying an excellent replacement for Simao Sabrose for the next 5 years.

In 2008, Di Maria became the Olympic champion. He scored the winning goal from the transfer of Lionel Messi in the 105th minute of the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands national team . At the 58th minute of the final match against Nigeria, Di Maria scored the only goal of the match, and Argentina won the Olympic football tournament for the second time in its history ^[9] .

After the first two seasons without champion titles (the club won only the league cup), Benfica won a successful year in national championships. In the 2009/10 season, the club not only retained the league cup, but also became the champion of Portugal. The game of the Argentine attracted the attention of many European grandees.

Real Madrid

The Royal Club officially issued the transfer player June 28, 2010. The agreement was designed for 6 years. The transfer amount was from 25 million euros ^[10] plus 5 million after the player was added to the club's application list ^[11] . After the transition, Di Maria said: “I am very glad that I became a Real Madrid player. It has long dreamed of performing in the leading European championships. This fact will give me even more strength in the matches for the Argentina national team and God forbid that I come to Madrid as a world champion ” ^[12] . August 29, he made his debut in the club in the match of the first round of the championship of Spain against the “ Mallorca ” ^[13] . On September 18, Di Maria scored the first goal for Real Madrid, bringing victory to his team in a game with Real Sociedad ^[14] . Ten days later, he scored his first goal in the Champions League , which brought the Madrid win against Auxerre ^[15] . On December 19, 2010, Di Maria scored a Sevilla goal ^[16] , which also brought a victory to Real Madrid. Three days later, on December 22, in the first match of the 1/8 finals of the Spanish Cup, Di Maria gave 3 assists: 2 against Karim Benzema and 1 against Cristiano Ronaldo . In the second leg of the Champions League final, he scored the third and final goal against Lyon ^[17] , and thus helped Real Madrid to overcome the 1/8 stage of the Champions League for the first time in 7 years. Di Maria scored the third goal of Real Madrid against Tottenham Hotspur ^[18] in the quarter-finals match of the Champions League. On April 20, 2011 in the Spanish Cup final with Barcelona , he was removed in the 120th minute of extra time after he received the second yellow card. Real Madrid won 1-0, the only goal was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo after the filing of Di Maria, who won his first trophy in Real Madrid. On May 1, 2011, the Argentine held his 50th match for Real Madrid ^[13] . At the end of the season, the footballer stated that he would like to improve the terms of his contract ^[19] .

On November 7, 2011, Di Maria suffered an injury to the back of the thigh and was out of action for a month ^{[20] [21]} . On December 3, 2011, in a match with the Sporting Hihon , Di Maria scored a goal from an acute angle ^[22] , for which, after completing the game, received praise from the head coach of the team, Jose Mourinho ^[23] . In December, Angel turned to the management of Real Madrid with a request to increase salaries from 1.8 million to 3.5 million euros per year ^[24] . On June 12, the contract was extended until 2018 ^[25] .

On August 24, 2012, in the first match of the Spanish Super Cup, Angel Angel scored the second goal for Real Madrid, thereby leaving quite good chances for a return game in Madrid; the meeting ended with a score of 3: 2. In the return match at Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid beat Barcelona with a score of 2: 1 and won the Spanish Super Cup.

Manchester United

On August 26, 2014, Di Maria signed a five-year contract with Manchester United . The transfer amount was 59.7 million pounds, which was a transfer record for English clubs ^[26] . In the team he received a t-shirt with the number "7". On August 30, he made his debut for the Red Devils, coming out in the starting lineup for the match with Burnley . On 14 September, in a game against Queens Park Rangers , Di Maria scored his first goal as part of Manchester United, and also gave an assist to Juan Mata . United won this meeting 4-0 ^[27] . On November 29, the Argentinean was injured in a match with Hull City , as a result of which he was forced to miss several matches. On January 4, 2015, Angel returned to the field, replacing Falcao in the match of 1/32 England Cup with Yeovil Town . In this match, the Argentine was able to score a goal in the 90th minute, ensuring the victory of “United” with a score of 2: 0.

Paris Saint-Germain

After an unsuccessful season at Manchester United, Di Maria decided to leave England and on August 6, 2015, became a football player at Paris Saint-Germain , signing a contract until 2019. The amount of transfer was 63 million euros.

In 2007, Di Maria was called to the Argentina national youth team for the South American Youth Championship in Paraguay . In the same year, Di Maria took part in the youth world championship in Canada . The midfielder scored 3 goals and helped Argentina become a champion.

A year later, Di Maria and some of his teammates from the youth national team were called up to the Olympic team to participate in the Summer Olympics in Beijing . The Argentines managed to win gold medals, and Angel scored two victory goals in the playoffs - in the quarterfinals with the Netherlands national team (2: 1) and in the final match with the team of Nigeria (1: 0) ^[28] .

On September 6, 2008, the midfielder made his debut in the main team in a match with the team of Paraguay .

Di Maria took part in two world championships ( 2010 and 2014 ), and according to the results of the Brazilian World Cup, Angel was included in the shortlist for the Golden Ball nominees (prize for the best player of the tournament).

As of May 4, 2019

Team

  " Benfica "

• Champion of Portugal : 2009/10
• Winner of the Portuguese League Cup ( 2 ): 2008/09 , 2009/10
• Total: 3 trophies

  Real Madrid

• Champion of Spain : 2011/12
• Winner of the Spanish Cup ( 2 ): 2010/11 , 2013/14
• Winner of the Super Cup of Spain : 2012
• UEFA Champions League Winner: 2013/14
• UEFA Super Cup Winner: 2014
• Total: 6 trophies

  PSG

• Champion of France ( 3 ): 2015/16 , 2017/18 , 2018/19
• French League Cup Winner ( 3 ): 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
• Winner of the French Cup ( 3 ): 2015/16, 2016/17 , 2017/18
• Winner of the French Super Cup ( 3 ): 2016, 2017, 2018
• Total: 12 trophies

  Argentina

• Youth World Champion : 2007
• Olympic champion : 2008
• World Cup finalist: 2014
• America Cup Finalist ( 2 ): 2015 , 2016

Personal

• Footballer of the year in Argentina : 2014
• The best assistant to the championship of Spain: 2013/14
• The best assistant to the championship of France: 2015/2016
• The best player of the UEFA Champions League Final: 2014
• The best assistant of the UEFA Champions League: 2013/14
• He is a member of the UEFA Champions League symbolic team: 2013/14
• Included in the symbolic team of the World Cup: 2014
• Included in the UEFA symbolic world team 2014: 2014
• Included in the symbolic team of the world version of FIFA : 2014

In 2011, Di Maria married Horheline Cardoso. On April 22, 2013, the couple had a daughter, Mia.

• Profile on the official site of FC Real Madrid (English) (Spanish)
• Statistics