On video: Israelis celebrate Argentina's victory in the World Cup (Photo: Avi Rokah)
It was Lionel Messi's night.
It was Emiliano Martinez's night.
It was Gonzalo Montiel's evening.
But it was also Angel Di Maria's evening.
After missing the 2014 World Cup final due to injury, Di Maria closed the circle yesterday (Sunday) with the goal that put Argentina 0:2 over France in the 2022 final. The 34-year-old player did come on in the 64th minute and saw his teammates caught up in one of the biggest dramas in the history of football, but the mark he once again left on the final and the victory of Argentina will not be taken away from him.
For a decade and a half De Maria has been considered the man who decides finals for Argentina.
He scored the only goal in the Olympic final in 2008, the only goal in the Copa America final in 2021 and one of the goals in the 0:3 win over Italy in the "Finalissima" - the meeting between the European and South American champions.
Yesterday in Qatar he added a goal for himself in the most prestigious class of all.
Argentina's man in the finals.
Di Maria (Photo: GettyImages)
However, it is hard to say that the months before the World Cup were successful for Di Maria.
After being relegated to the bench at Paris Saint-Germain and leaving, the Argentine arrived at Juventus but fell into a deep professional crisis with them.
The old lady was kicked out of the Champions League already in the group stage after an embarrassing campaign that included a loss to Maccabi Haifa (in which Di Maria was injured) and even in the league the Bianconeri are not a factor in the championship fight.
In the Italian "Gazzetta dello Sport" they called Di Maria today as someone who suddenly turned from a "flop" in the last four months to a "God-given hero in the final".
Since the start of the season, Di Maria, and also his teammate and national team player Andrew Paredes (on loan from PSG), have been criticized for their weak ability and in the country of the boot, they wondered if they were keeping themselves ready for the games in Qatar.
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Di Maria (Photo: GettyImages)
Di Maria has a contract until the end of the season, but the question marks regarding his future are already relevant to the transfer window that opens in January.
According to the "Gazetta", the continuation of Di Maria at the club is defined as a question mark, as this depends on the improvement of the relationship between the player and the club.
As you may remember, Juventus has gone through a major upheaval in recent weeks with the resignation of the management.
Another factor that may have an effect is the degree of motivation of the player, after achieving the most important goal in his career.
In any case, Juventus can be satisfied with one thing that La Paredes and Di Maria have arranged.
Thanks to Argentina's victory over France, Juventus remained the team that sent the most world champions throughout history - 27. The old lady led the list even before the World Cup with Bayern Munich in second place with 24 - but a French victory would have brought about an upheaval at the top as the tricolor has three players from Bayern (Kingsley Koeman, Dayo Ofmakano, Benjamin Favar) and only one from Juventus (Adrien Rabiot).
By the way, 22 of Juventus' 27 world champions are Italian, while the other three foreigners on the list are French - Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane in 1998 and Blaise Matuidi in 2018.
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world football
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Angel Di Maria
Argentina national team
Juventus
