Angel Di Maria has revealed the horrible situation the PSG forward found himself in before the 2014 World Cup final against Germany.
Writing in the Player's Tribune, Di Maria explained how he was struggling with a torn thigh muscle sustained in the quarter final, and that he would require pain killing injections in order to play, something that the Di Maria was more than willing to do.
However his club at the time, Real Madrid, had different ideas:
So I was putting ice on my leg when our team doctor, Daniel Martínez, came into the room holding this envelope, and he said, “Look, Ángel, this paper came from Real Madrid.”
I said, “What are you talking about?”
He said, “Well, they’re saying you’re not in any condition to play. So they are forcing us to not let you play today.”
Di Maria then gave the reason for his club's reasoning behind banning the player from playing in the biggest spectacle in world football:
I immediately knew what was happening. Everybody had heard the rumors that Real wanted to sign James Rodríguez after the World Cup, and I knew that they were going to sell me to make room for him. So they didn’t want their asset to be damaged. It was that simple. That’s the business of football that people do not always see.
Understandable from the La Liga side but still incredibly cruel on Di Maria.
But despite his club's wishes Di Maria was steadfast in his determination to play stating that he would play even if it had ended ended his career. The former Benfica star went to Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella in tears, telling his manager that he would play until he broke down, but his efforts were in vain as his position was taken by Enzo Perez.
Di Maria was on the bench for Argentina's 1-0 defeat to Germany in Brazil, but did not even make a cameo as a substitute as he watched his team lose, and the player claimed that the final was the most difficult day of his life.
H/T: The Player's Tribune
