π¨ Di Maria on the strange way Argentina played against Spain
ποΈ βLook, people see 90 minutes on TV and think thatβs the whole story, but football at that level isn't just about what happens on the pitch. What happened before that final against Spain... it wasn't normal.
In 2022, you saw fire in our eyes. But in that tunnel against Spain? Cuti posting that weird 'forced to finish second' message after the loss, Enzo and Licha literally in tears in the dressing room before the kickoffβnot from emotion, but from frustration. Leo missing every single shot in the warmup, looking completely drained, and then posting 'whatever happens tomorrow' instead of what he wrote last time with 'I'm ready'? Come on man.
You don't just forget how to play overnight. There were people in suitsβwhether it was mafia, the powers at the top, or whoever runs the show behind the curtainβwho had already written the script. Argentina was brought there to hand over the torch, not to win. We were told, without it being explicitly said, that Spain had to be the champions. And when you're playing against 11 men on the field and an entire invisible empire off it, you realize some matches are decided long before the whistle blows."