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Angel Di Maria explained how playing with Messi is the highlight of his career.
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Messi and Di Maria: Argentina and Paris
While they did not unite at club level until much later in their careers, Messi and Di Maria have been Albiceleste teammates.
The pair were part of the Argentina side that beat Nigeria at the 2008 Beijing Olympics final. However, from that point on, they had a period of repeated disappointments for the national team.
Ahead of the 2021 Copa America final, in which they finally broke the run of bad luck, the pair, alongside Otamendi, were remnants of that dismal era and had faced an incredible amount of criticism from home.
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They turned the situation around, however, winning two Copa America titles and the grandest prize, the World Cup. During that period, Messi joined PSG and in one of his two seasons there, he won the Ligue 1 title with Angel.
What Di Maria said
Now, 36, Di Maria has retired from international duty, while Messi soldiers on. Speaking in an interview with DSports Radio, he expressed the joy he had playing with Messi and how he facilitated the 37-year-old’s move to Paris to extend that relationship beyond the national team.
"Playing with Messi was the best thing that happened to me in my career,” Di Maria said. “It's the best thing, and after so many years, to create a friendship... the little guy is phenomenal on and off the pitch.
“I had that chance and I told him after my last game at PSG, 'thank you for letting me live all this with you'. When he left Barcelona, Lean (Paredes) and I told him to come and play with us.
“It never happened that I would go to Barcelona, but all I wanted was to live it with him. Having him every day during that year was something different. It was the icing on the cake for me.”
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