By Chris Wright
Angel Di Maria’s departure from Real Madrid hasn’t proven to be the cleanest of breaks, with the player caught in a continuing tit-for-tat sniping war with the Spanish club’s president Florentino Perez.
Coming after Perez recently declared he only allowed Di Maria to leave for Manchester United due to his greedy wage demands, the 26-year-old winger has responded – claiming Perez sent a letter to the Argentina World Cup camp on the morning of the final, forbidding Di Maria to play.
Di Maria missed the semi-final against Holland after picking up a thigh strain and hobbled out of the quarter-final win over Belgium, though an intensive treatment programme meant that he was in contention to make it back for the big one against Germany in the Maracana.
However, Real Madrid didn’t want their man risking further injury so promptly demanded that Di Maria sit out the biggest game of his career.
In an interview with Argentine radio show America y Closs, Di Maria told his tale:
“What I love the most is playing with Argentina. I received a letter at 11am from Real Madrid, on the day of the game while I was in [the physio room], telling me to not play in the World Cup final.
“I was thinking about playing in the final, although I knew that if I did there was a 90% chance I’d re-injure myself.
“When I read it, I tore up the letter. I suffered a lot that morning. That was the worst thing to ever happen in my life. I didn’t speak to anyone at the club about this.
“It doesn’t matter. In the end, it was (Argentina coach Alejandro) Sabella who made the decision and it was for the best.
“I talked with Alejandro and it was his decision. I didn’t want to pressure him.
“I knew I could have to come off after 15 minutes and leave the team, I didn’t want that.”
The full interview (obviously in Spanish) is available here.