In the summer of 2023, Ángel Di María (Rosario, Argentina; 36 years old) decided to release himself from Juventus Turin to return to the club and the city where he began his European adventure at just 19 years old. In 2007, after an outstanding performance in the U20 World Cup, Benfica’s scouts opted for an emerging and fast dribbler trained in the Rosario pastures. His reed-like silhouette justified the nickname El Fideo with which he was baptized by his friends from the Parque Casas neighborhood, a humble suburb where his father established the sale of charcoal in the family home and to which Di María himself contributed. Benfica paid six million euros for a youth player with just 40 appearances in professional football in his country. “I wanted to return to the place where it all started for me in Europe,” he said on the day of his presentation. This Wednesday they face Atlético (9:00 p.m., Movistar LC), whom they destroyed in extra time in the 2014 Champions League final played in the same Da Luz stadium. That night, Di María confirmed why Diego Pablo Simeone, every time he was asked who Real Madrid’s best player was, pointed to his compatriot ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo or Benzema. Simeone has never hidden that he would have liked to coach Di María at Atlético.
The first coach that Di María had at Benfica was José Antonio Camacho, who early recognized his talent, but who also tried to take away the responsibility of the comparisons with Maradona that were established upon arriving in Lisbon. “You never know how far a player can go or imagine if he would have the spectacular career he has had. When Benfica signed him, he arrived with a torn quadriceps and it was difficult for him at first. But when he started training in good conditions, you could see that technically he was better than most,” Camacho recalls. “I was fascinated by his speed, although at that age he was a bit hasty and lacked the goal. Then, as time went by, he acquired that and became the great player that we have all seen,” continues the former Spanish coach.
Benfica was also a bet for Di María. “It wasn’t easy, I was almost a child and I arrived at a big European club like Benfica, with a lot of demands, but I got ahead,” admits Camacho. In that first stage he met in the locker room with the current president of the club, Rui Costa, who sponsored him. This was decisive in Di María’s return to his first European club. “When Rui Costa called him, he rejected other offers and didn’t even ask about the salary,” says a Benfica employee.
Di María returned 16 years later with a bag full of titles after having played his electric and vertical football for Real Madrid, Manchester United, PSG and Juventus in Turin. “First of all it must be said that he had a late recognition in Argentina, where he suffered the same pressure as Messi. “That contributed to the two coming together and ending up being a de facto football couple in the national team,” says Jorge Valdano, who was the general manager of Real Madrid when in the summer of 2010 the Concha Espina club paid 30 million euros to the team. Benfica for his transfer. “He is a player with a very large field of action, a midfielder when he loses the ball and a quick tackler and scorer when he has it. “Big, daring player, with a lot of personality,” Valdano describes him. “Also, like all intelligent players, he aged well. He acquired calmness in the definition, a confidence that makes him encouraged in everything as has been seen in his performances with Argentina,” Valdano points out.
Di María signed for one year and this summer everything indicated that he would return to his city to play for Rosario Central. Only death threats to him and his family, by the brave bands, for refusing to finance them, prevented his return home. Once again, Rui Costa extended his hand and Di María signed for another season with the Lisbon entity at the end of the Copa América that he won as a farewell to his time as a player for the Argentine national team.
In his second season at Benfica, Di María experienced the dismissal of German Roger Schmidt, carried out during the September international break. His replacement, Bruno Lage, tries to accommodate Di María in a position in which his physique no longer suffers. Lage, who left Benfica in 2020 after making them league champions, has also been picked up by Rui Costa. As soon as he arrived, he assured that he could play Di María in the same position as João Félix, whom he made explode in the Benfica first team before completing his million-dollar transfer to Atlético de Madrid. However, from what he said yesterday, Lage still does not seem to have found the ideal place for him. He has made him play as a second striker and on both flanks as a winger. “He is a very strong one-on-one player and his teammates at Atlético know it,” Lage said yesterday. My only doubt is where we can put him, in order to take advantage of those characteristics and create more scoring opportunities,” admitted the Benfica coach who is looking for a place where Di María offers his last lessons.
