Ángel di María was unwilling to dwell on what might have been after his starring performance in Argentina’s 4-2 destruction of Germany, on September 3, 2014.
The then Real Madrid winger had missed the World Cup final defeat to the same opponents through injury but asked whether the decider in Rio de Janeiro might have played out differently if he had been fit, Di María said he refused to dwell on the past.
“It never came into my head what would have happened,” he said. “These are things that happen in football – sometimes it goes for you and other times no. That game went for them. That is it.
“We must think that we left Argentina in a very high place, and we must keep ourselves up there. There is just one step left for us, and hopefully we can make that.”
A lot has changed since 13 July, with Di María becoming England’s most expensive player after joining Manchester United for £59.7m, resulting in him writing an open letter to Real Madrid’s fans in which he suggested he was reluctant to move.
“That is done now,” he protested and, according to ESPN, insisted that he was content with life at Old Trafford. “Now I am at a very big club, very happy with everything. I am going to work to begin adapting to English football, to my team-mates, and what the coach wants.”
Di María scored one goal in Düsseldorf and had assists in the other three, setting up Sergio Agüero, Érik Lamela and Federico Fernández, before claiming the fourth himself in the country’s first game under Gerardo Martino.
“It was about the work of everyone,” Di María said. “The most important thing was not to win, but to make a good impression in the first game of a new cycle. And I believe we did that well.
“We wanted to press up front and take them on as the coach asked us. I am leaving happy as I played a good game.”
SOURCE: The Guardian