The prettiest one? God, no!The most gifted? With Messi on board – not a chance.The die-hard tractor in the middle? Not his cup of tea.But all those things aside, Angel Di Maria was, has been and will always be quite a unique figure in football.Angel Di Maria becomes the first player in history to score in a:🎯 Olympic Games final🎯 Continental Cup final🎯 World Cup finalEl Fideo 🫶👏 pic.twitter.com/d33xfhp8JG— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) December 19, 2022 The former Manchester United winger has got an essential ingredient that separates him from tens of thousands of other players out there. He’s a natural-born champion and he keeps proving that day after day, year after year, tournament after tournament.Let’s dive into archives, shall we?He scored the winning goal in the 2008 Olympic Games final against Nigeria.He scored the title-worth decider against Brazil in the 2021 Copa America final. He netted against Italy in the 2022 Finalissima victory (the clash between the champions of South America and Europe). Last but not least, he was taken down for a penalty which Messi converted into a 1-0 lead at Lusial Stadium yesterday before Di Maria himself buried that second past Lloris.That was the second World Cup showdown for the Albiceleste in last eight years, but there was no Di Maria for the 2014 decisive clash with Germany (injured) and, guess what? Argentina lost 1-0 after the extra time.👏 ¡A 7 AÑOS DEL DÍA QUE FIDEO LA ROMPIÓ EN LISBOA!🔙🏆 Un día como hoy, pero de 2014, Real Madrid derrotaba 4-1 a Atlético en la final de la #UCL y se alzaba con su décima Orejona🔝 En aquel entonces, Di María tuvo una gran actuación y fue elegido MVPpic.twitter.com/apI8cRmBUo— Destino Qatar (@destino_qatar) May 24, 2021 If all that’s not enough for you, remember Di Maria was also named the 2014 UEFA Champions League final Man of the Match when his Real Madrid thumped Atletico Madrid 4-1.As a matter of fact, the man lost a single final in his entire career – the 2020 UCL showdown between his then-club PSG and Bayern Munich, with the Germans winning 1-0.”He’s an odd sort of star in that he has somehow never really been a star at all,” John Muller of The Athletic writes this morning accurately before adding:”For one thing, he doesn’t have a position. Or he has three of them. Over the past 15 years, Di Maria has played both wings and attacking midfield for some of the best teams in the world and looked natural wherever his side needed him.”One hour, three minutes and 52 seconds of Di Maria as the best player on the pitch – and a lifetime of Messi, the greatest ever to do it – were enough to win the World Cup,” concludes Muller.##NAJAVA_MECA_6892891##
