Di Maria Deserves Same Recognition As Messi, Says Luis Menotti

Cesar Luis Menotti has heaped praise on Angel Di Maria and insisted that the winger deserves the same praise as Argentine skipper Lionel Messi.

La Albiceleste won their third international championship, ending a 36-year drought, thanks in large part to the winger’s outstanding performance at the Qatar World Cup.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Di Maria Gets Huge World Cup Tattoo To Celebrate Argentina Victory 

Previously, he had scored in the 2021 Copa America final against Brazil and also in the 2022 Finalissima against Italy before finding the net against France in the World Cup final.

While El Fideo is much loved by the fans after shining for the national team in crucial matches, Menotti, the manager who led Argentina to their first World Cup title in 1978, believes that the former Real Madrid winger deserves to be on the same pedestal with the likes of Messi, Diego Maradona and Mario Kempes.

“He’s the player who deserves the same recognition of the great footballers. I put him on the same level as Kempes, as Maradona, as Messi. For me, he’s the player who has represented like no one else Argentinian football in every place he has gone to,” the former Argentina manager said in an interview with Super Deportivo on Radio Villa Trinidad 97.9.

“Wherever you go, Di Maria played there… those who understand soccer respect him in an incredible manner, and those who know him love him a lot. I was happier for him than for me. For me, he’s an example, as great of a role model as the best in history that you care to compare.”

Despite Messi’s admission that he won’t be participating in the 2026 World Cup, Menotti thinks that Inter Miami’s new signing might succeed in the prestigious competition in three years given his physical condition and technical prowess.

“Physically, technically and age-wise, Messi can easily play in the next World Cup. He is very healthy, he trains and takes good care of himself,” he said.

“He is impeccable, he has no injuries. If I were 36 years old and I were him, I would play until I was 40 years old! Then we will have to see his state of mind, maybe he wants to enjoy his freedom a little more. Messi, wherever he goes, will always have freedom of action, if if he doesn’t win. He will always play well. I have never even seen him just play normal.”

There was talk that Di Maria and Messi may reconnect at Inter Miami in the MLS, but current reports says that he has turned down a transfer there after leaving Juventus and is more likely to join his old team Benfica this summer.