Ángel Di María will face former manager Louis van Gaal in the World Cup quarter-finals, the coach he once called “the worst of my career.”
Manchester United signed Ángel Di María from Real Madrid in 2014, but the move never really worked out for the player who had a terrible experience at the club.
He agreed to a five-year contract, but only stayed for one season. His poor performance on the field, combined with his tense relationship with the Dutch coach, prompted him to leave.
He left Manchester United and signed for PSG, where he regained his form. That year in England, however, left a mark on him. Di Mara spoke about his time at United with Argentine media outlet TyC Sports after leaving the club and talked a lot about the Dutch manager.
He said (via Mark):
“My problem in Manchester was the coach. Van Gaal was the worst coach of my career.”
“I scored, attended and the next day he showed me my badly placed passes.
“He moved me from one day to the next, he didn’t like the players to be above him.”
He is not a player characterized by having problems with his coaches, but in the case of Van Gaal there was never a good relationship.
And Van Gaal has now responded to Di Maria’s comments in the most bizarre way ahead of the quarter-final. In the press conference prior to the game, they asked him about his bad relationship with the Argentine and the comments were directed at him.
Van Gaal regretted it after hearing Di Maria’s comments, joking that he had similar problems with Memphis Depay when they were both at Manchester United, but now they “kiss each other on the mouth”. He said:
“Did María call me the worst coach he has ever had? He is one of the few players with this opinion. I am very sorry for this and I find it sad that he said this. Memphis had to deal with that in Manchester too, and now we kiss on the mouth.”
Van Gaal: “Did Maria called me the worst manager he’s ever had? He’s one of the few players with this opinion. I’m very sorry and sad that he said this. Memphis also had to deal with that in Manchester, and now we kissed on the mouth.” pic.twitter.com/tZo9mmsQiy
— ??? ???? ? (@TheEuropeanLad) December 8, 2022
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Di María is still a doubt for the quarterfinals on Friday against the Netherlands. He did not play against Australia, and it is not clear if he will start this time.
