Ángel Di María - Footballer, Career and Childhood

Ángel Fabián Di María was born in Rosario, Argentina, on February 14, 1988, to Miguel and Diana María. He grew up with two sisters. His family was poverty-stricken. For the first few years of his life, Ángel did not even have access to the basic amenities that are required to live.

As a child, he was active in sports. His parents were told by doctors that his unusually good stamina could lead him to become a great footballer. As a result, his parents enrolled him at a local football club when he was 4 years old.

Due to his family’s poor financial conditions, they could not afford to give him sports shoes and a football to practice at home. Ángel had once stated in an interview that had he gotten shoes and a football, his sisters would be deprived.

His father worked at a local coal yard to make ends meet. He earned a meager income. Ángel also started working alongside his father. Soon, his sisters joined them. Ángel would spend all day at the football academy and then leave directly for his workplace. He worked hard to earn some additional money.

Ángel joined the youth wing of ‘Rosario Central’ in 1995 and honed his skills there. He scored the first professional goal of his life in 2006 in the ‘Apertura’ tournament against ‘Quilmes.’ He was also part of national under-20 team that played in the ‘FIFA World Cup.’ There, he performed exceptionally well and bagged a $6.5 million offer from ‘Boca Juniors.’

He was also approached by the ‘English Premier League’ team ‘Arsenal,’ but his negotiations with Arsenal were not successful. The strict ‘European Union’ (EU) laws did not allow work permits to players from outside the Union.

In July 2007, he officially joined ‘Benfica,’ a Portuguese local team, and started playing as a winger. He performed well with the team and the managers soon considered offering him another contract. In 2009, he was retained for three more years. In October that year, one of the world’s greatest footballers, Diego Maradona, praised his skills and said that he was “Argentina's next superstar.”

In February 2010, Ángel scored his career’s first hat-trick against ‘Leixões.’ Following this, the Portuguese media touted him as the next superhero. Several news channels and newspapers featured him.

In June 2010, ‘Real Madrid,’ one of the best football clubs in the world, made an official announcement that they were in talks with ‘Benfica’ for Ángel’s transfer. On August 29, 2010, he made his league debut for ‘Real Madrid’ in a match that ended in a draw.

The following month, he scored his first league goal in a match against ‘Real Sociedad.’ He also performed exceedingly well to help his team reach the ‘UEFA Champions League’ quarterfinals, which was a first for his team in seven years.

In April, he played a major role in ‘Real Madrid’s ‘Copa del Rey’ victory. By the end of his first season with ‘Real Madrid,’ Ángel had appeared in 53 matches and had scored 9 goals, which was an exceptional performance for an attacking midfielder.

At the start of the 2011–2012 season, Ángel struggled for a while and committed some grave mistakes. He was immensely criticized for committing a horror foul in a match against ‘Levante.’ This caused a clash between the two teams on the field.

However, his performance improved soon. He played a crucial role in his team’s league title win. It was the 32nd league win for ‘Real Madrid.’

While the 2012–2013 season was a mixed bag for Ángel, he did perform at some crucial moments. On February 13, he famously assisted his teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in scoring a goal against ‘Manchester United.’ He continued to perform throughout the season and assisted his teammates in several crucial moments. In the 46 appearances that he made throughout the season, he scored 8 goals.

The ‘Real Madrid’ managers decided to renew his contract and retained him until 2018. In 2014, he played mostly on the front as the attacker. In the ‘Copa del Rey’ finals against ‘Barcelona,’ he scored the winning goal for his team. He assisted his team to a victory in the ‘UEFA Champions League’ finals against ‘Atlético Madrid.’ He was named the ‘Man of the Match’ by the ‘UEFA’ at the end of the match. The award was presented to him by legendary footballer Alex Ferguson.

His team won the 2014 ‘UEFA Super Cup.’ Both his team and he had a great stint, and 2014 is widely considered to be the best year of his professional life.

In 2014, he signed a five-year deal with ‘Manchester United’ for a whopping transfer fee of £59.7 million. It was one of the biggest transfer deals the club had ever indulged in. However, he scored only 4 goals in the 34 matches that he played in. Football pundits mentioned this as one of the worse deals in football history.

It was getting tough for ‘Manchester United’ to keep Ángel with them any longer, and he was transferred to ‘Paris Saint-Germain’ in 2015. His performance improved, and he assisted his team to the ‘Copa de la Ligue’ final win. He also made the ‘Ligue 1’ record for most assists in a season, with 18 assists. In the next season, his team also won the ‘Copa de la Ligue.’ In the 2017–2018 season, he played a crucial role in his team’s ‘Coupe de France’ win.

He also played for his national team in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 ‘FIFA World Cups’ and in several other tournaments.

Ángel Di Maria holds both Italian and Argentine passports, as his ancestors were from Italy.

In 2011, he got married to Jorgelina, a fellow Argentine. They have a daughter named Pia.

Ángel is considered to be a family man. He used his first paycheck to make his father quit his job. Soon, he bought a house for his family.