Ángel Di María
Personal information | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ángel Fabián di María | |||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | |||||||||||||
Position(s) | Winger | |||||||||||||
Team information | ||||||||||||||
Current team | Real Madrid | |||||||||||||
Number | 22 | |||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||
1993–1999 | New England Revolution | |||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
1999–2008 | New England Revolution | 195 | (46) | |||||||||||
2009–2011 | Benfica | 86 | (18) | |||||||||||
2011– | Real Madrid | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||
Argentina | (8) | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 May 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 9 February 2011 |
Ángel Fabián di María (born 14 February 1988) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays as a winger for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid[2] and the Argentine national team. He is nicknamed El Angelito, Di Magia, El Flaco, El Prolifico Diverio, El Pibito and Fideo, the Spanish word for noodle.[3]
Club career
Rosario Central
Di María started his professional football career in 2005 when he made his debut for Rosario Central. In January 2007, he had an opportunity to play in the Russian Premier League when Rubin Kazan offered him a contract. At first, he agreed, but soon afterwards, he changed his mind and turned down the offer.[4] After putting up a remarkable performance in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, playing for Argentina, di María caught the eye of several European teams and in the end, SL Benfica of Portugal signed him.
Benfica
Ángel di María was transferred to Portuguese side Benfica in July 2007. Benfica paid Rosario Central €6 million for 80% of his sports rights and 50% of sports right of Andrés Díaz.[5] Later, in August 2008, the Portuguese club paid an extra €2 million for the remaining 20%,[6]
So highly regarded was di María by Benfica that team president Luís Filipe Vieira, when presenting the young Argentine, told the club's supporters he had bought the perfect replacement for Benfica's departing captain, Simão, a talismanic figure for Benfica for over five seasons.
During the first months of his tenure in Lisbon, di María showed that he was not in the least weighed down by the expectations, and the fans quickly took to the exciting talent.
Di María signed a new deal with Benfica in October 2009, adding three more years to his current deal, which was to last until 30 June 2015 with a €40 million minimum fee release.[7] Later that month, he was backed by Diego Maradona to become "Argentina's next superstar."[8]
On 27 February 2010, di María scored his first hat trick in a classic 4–0 win against Leixões SC. The next day, he made the headlines as "Magic Tri María" of all sports newspaper in Portugal.[9]
Real Madrid
2010–11 season
On 28 June 2010, Real Madrid posted on their website that they had come to terms with Benfica for the transfer of di María. He signed a five-year contract for €25 million, plus €11 million in incentives, as announced by the Portuguese Stock Exchange regulating entity.[10] On 7 July 2010, di María arrived to Madrid directly from Buenos Aires,[11] and passed the medical test on 8 July.[12]
He made his debut on 4 August 2010 in a friendly match against Club América, which Real Madrid won 3–2–.[13] On 22 August, di María scored his first goal in another friendly against Hércules CF, which Real Madrid won 3–1.[14] In the last match of preseason, on 24 August, after an individual play described as a "magic moment," he opened the score of the 2–0 win against CA Peñarol, for the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy.[15] His league debut came on 29 August, in a 0–0 draw against RCD Mallorca.[16] On 18 September, di María scored his first league goal for Real Madrid in their 2–1 win over Real Sociedad.[17] Ten days later, he scored his first goal in the Champions League against AJ Auxerre, in a 1–0 victory.[18] He scored a controversial first goal against Sevilla FC on 19 December. Days later, di María assisted Karim Benzema's two goals and Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in an astonishing 8–0 win over Levante UD on 22 December. In the second leg of the Champions League last 16 round against Olympique Lyonnais, he scored the third and final goal in a 3–0 win to send Real Madrid through to the last eight for the first time in seven years. Di María scored Real's third goal during their first-leg Champions League quarter-final victory over Tottenham Hotspur. On 20 April 2011, he was sent off in the 31st minute of extra time in the Copa del Rey final against rivals FC Barcelona. Real Madrid won the game 1–0, the lone goal of this game (in the 13th minute of extra time) being a header from Ronaldo, assisted by di María himself, thus obtaining his first honour with Real Madrid.
International career
In 2007, di María was picked to play for the Argentina Under-20 squad. He was capped for the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay. In 2007, he was called up for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. They went on to win the tournament with di María scoring three goals in the process.
On 28 January 2008, di María and some of his U-20 teammates were called up for the Argentina squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He scored the extra-time game-winning goal on a pass from Lionel Messi in the 105th minute of his team's 2–1 quarter-final win over the Netherlands.
On 23 August, in perhaps the best moment of his career so far, di María scored the game-winner, a chip over the keeper from the edge of the area in the 57th minute of Argentina's 1–0 victory against Nigeria to capture their second straight Olympic Gold Medal in the final game of the Olympic tournament.[19]
Di María was chosen as one of the 23 players for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On 11 August 2010, he scored the first ever international goal at Dublin's new Aviva Stadium in a friendly against Ireland with Argentina winning 1–0.[20]
Honours
Club
- Benfica
- Real Madrid
Country
Career statistics
Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
Rosario Central | 2005–06 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | ||
2006–07 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 16 | 0 | |||
2007–08 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 12 | 0 | |||
Total | 35 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 30 | 0 | |||
Benfica | 2007–08 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 15 | 1 |
2008–09 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 20 | 0 | |
2009–10 | 26 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 45 | 30 | 2 | |
Total | 76 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 6 | 7 | 123 | 65 | 3 | |
Real Madrid | 2010–11 | 35 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 6 | — | 10 | 3 | 3 | 53 | 31 | 5 | ||
Total | 35 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 6 | — | 10 | 3 | 3 | 53 | 31 | 5 | |||
Career total | 146 | 19 | 28 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 9 | 10 | 227 | 30 | 46 |
International
|
|
References
- ^ Ángel Di María Player Profile
- ^ "Di Maria: PLAYER PROFILE". Real Madrid C.F. official website. July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ "Top 10 things you need to know about Real Madrid's new Argentine magician Angel Di Maria". Mirror Football. Trinity Mirror. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- ^ "Kurban Berdyev's press conference" (in Russian). FC Rubn official website. 24 January 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- ^ "Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, SAD announces an agreement in principle for the acquisition of Andrez Dias and Angel Di María" (PDF). SL Benfica (in Portuguese). Published by CMVM. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ "Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol SAD announces acquiring the remaining 20% of Di Maria's economic rights" (PDF). SL Benfica (in Portuguese). Published by CMVM. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ "Di Maria e a renovação: "É uma motivação mais."" (in Portuguese). SL Benfica. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
- ^ "Maradona hails di María". Ontheminute.com, 28 October 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
- ^ "10 things you need to know about Liverpool target Angel De Maria". Mirror Football. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
- ^ "Official announcement" (PDF) (in Portuguese). CMVM - Portuguese Securities Market Commission. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ "Di Maria arrives in Madrid". Real Madrid C.F. official website. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Di Maria passes physical". Real Madrid C.F. official website. 8 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ The Whites win first preseason match realmadrid.com, 5 August 2010.
- ^ Hercules v Real Madrid - Goal.com Goal.com, 23 August 2010.
- ^ Real Madrid 2-0 Penarol: Hosts Win Sixth Successive Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu - Goal.com Goal.com, 25 August 2010.
- ^ Report: Mallorca v Real Madrid - Spanish Primera División - ESPN Soccernet soccernet.espn.com, 30 August 2010.
- ^ Report: Real Sociedad 1 - 2 Real Madrid soccernet.espn.go.com, 19 September 2010.
- ^ Report: AJ Auxerre 0 - 1 Real Madrid goal.com, 28 September 2010.
- ^ "The world game". The world game. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Republic of Ireland 0-1 Argentina". RTE Sport. 2010-08-11. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Ángel Di María Profile, Statistics, News, Game Log - ESPN Soccernet soccernet.espn.go.com, retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ Ángel Di María - Performance data - transfermarkt.co.uk transfermarkt.co.uk, retrieved 13 October 2010.
External links
- 1988 births
- 2010 FIFA World Cup players
- Argentine expatriate footballers
- Argentine footballers
- Argentina international footballers
- Association football midfielders
- Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- La Liga footballers
- Living people
- Olympic gold medalists for Argentina
- People from Rosario
- Primera División Argentina players
- Primeira Liga players
- Real Madrid C.F. players
- Rosario Central footballers
- S.L. Benfica footballers
- Argentine expatriates in Portugal
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain