“Messi Told Me It’s His Last Final, I Told Him We’ll Make It Happen’- Di Maria
Argentina star, Angel Di Maria has disclosed how he assured his countryman Lionel Messi that they would win the Copa America before 7,800 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Di Maria and the six-time Ballon d’Or winner shared the same trophyless history with Argentina and needed to win against arch rival Brazil by all means possible.
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Messi, 34, needed the trophy to end 16 years of criticism for not lifting any major trophy with Argentina.
Messi was phenomenal in their win and ended up as the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals.
“Messi told me it’s his last final, I told him we’ll make it happen,” Di Maria said in a post march interview.
Messi has once quit the national team over disappointing outings. He has lost four finals- three Copa America in 2007, 2015 and 2016.
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He lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final.
In 2016 after he lost the Copa America final to Chile, he announced that his career with the national team was over.
He said after losing to Chile, “In the dressing room I thought that this is the end for me with the national team, it’s not for me.”
Having ended Argentina’s 28 years of trophy drought, Di Maria who scored the only goal against Brazil said, “This victory is all thanks to Lionel Messi.”
“It was this one, friend. You deserve it more than anyone. You’re the best in the world. You were the best before the final and you’re the best now after becoming a champion,” he added in a separate post on his Instagram.
