Ángel Di María

Every final. That is the phrase that follows Ángel Di María, and it is close to literal: the winning goal in the 2008 Olympic final, the assist for the winner in the 2014 Champions League final, the goal in the 2021 Copa América final against Brazil, the goal in the 2022 Finalissima against Italy, and then the goal in the World Cup final in Lusail, the one that made it 2–0 and produced a substituted player weeping uncontrollably on the bench for a country that had spent a decade telling him he was not good enough. He was the most criticised member of that generation. He also decided, one way or another, almost every trophy it won. Born in Rosario in 1988 into a family that ran a coal yard, where he worked as a child, Di María became one of the most productive wide players of his era through a physical profile nobody would have designed on purpose: 1.80m, extremely slight, and built for acceleration and repeated sprints rather than strength. He was two-footed in effect if not in preference, capable of playing on either flank or centrally, and his defining qualities were the ability to carry the ball at speed into space and a passing gift that made him one of the finest chance creators of his generation — cutbacks, chipped through-balls, and crosses struck with the outside of the left foot. He also possessed a hard, low shot from distance and a remarkable habit of scoring high-difficulty goals in high-stakes matches. Rosario Central and Benfica preceded a move to Real Madrid in 2010, where he won La Liga, two Copas del Rey and the 2014 Champions League, being named man of the match in the final before being sold that summer. An unhappy season at Manchester United followed, then seven years at Paris Saint-Germain — five Ligue 1 titles and the club's all-time assist record — and a final European chapter at Juventus and Benfica before returning to Rosario Central. For Argentina he passed 145 caps, won the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 World Cup, and the 2024 Copa América, retiring from international football with the trophies that had eluded the entire Messi generation. His fragility was chronic and shaped his whole career. Di María suffered muscular injuries with unusual frequency, particularly in the periods immediately preceding major tournaments — he missed the 2014 World Cup final through a thigh tear sustained in the quarter-final — and his slender frame made him easy to knock off the ball by defenders who engaged him physically. His decision-making in the final third was inconsistent, shooting when a pass was available and forcing crosses into crowded areas, and his defensive contribution fluctuated by season and coach. Against compact low blocks that denied him space to run into, he could become wasteful rather than merely quiet. The temperament underneath was unusually raw. Di María was emotionally transparent in a way elite football rarely permits: he cried openly and often, on pitches and in interviews, spoke publicly about how deeply the criticism from Argentine media and supporters wounded him, and never developed the protective indifference that most players in his position acquire. He carried grievances — about Real Madrid selling him, about being blamed for tournament failures — and expressed them plainly rather than diplomatically. On the pitch he was competitive and combustible, quick to protest, quick to retaliate against physical treatment, and capable of collecting cards in matches that did not require it. What made him valuable rather than fragile was that pressure activated him instead of suppressing him: the bigger the occasion, the more consistently he produced, and his record in finals is not statistical noise but the single most reliable pattern of his career. Away from football he was family-centred and low-key, devoted to his wife and daughters, and returned to the club where he had started despite security threats to his family in Rosario — a decision that summarised him more accurately than any of the finals. Wounded, sentimental and permanently underestimated, Di María spent fifteen years answering criticism by winning the matches nobody else could.