Scaloni laments one half of the irreplaceable duo

An era in Argentina is over: Angel Di Maria has ended his international career. Yes, Lionel Messi is number one, but the current Benfica star is the one who cemented himself in the greatest successes of the Albiceleste in recent years. He scored the winning goal for the title in the first Copa America victory against Brazil and netted another goal against France in the World Cup final.

For that reason, many Argentinians in various polls see Fideo, as he is known in his homeland, as one of the top five players in the country's history.

And national team coach Lionel Scaloni says that replacing Di Maria is impossible.

"Di Maria and Messi are two unique, irreplaceable players. Fideo will not return to the team, and he made that clear. We won't search for a replacement because that would be a mistake, and it's impossible. He gave us width on both flanks. We will try to find a player, and I believe we have one, who can provide us with that width," Scaloni said in an interview with local media.

He explained what Fideo brought to the Argentina national team:

"Besides his fantastic one-on-one play, there’s his understanding of the game and the ability to do incredible things that only he can. Now that he's no longer with us, we will play differently."

Angel Di Maria recently admitted that, even though he decided to retire, his soul "died" with the desire to still get a call-up to the national team. Coach Scaloni spoke very emotionally on this topic.

"I’ve known him for a long time, and I knew he was dying to be in the national team. But we were already focused on giving Nico Gonzalez a chance, from whom we expect a lot. I knew we couldn't give Angel the same minutes he had before. After his TV interview, I called him, and after a few seconds, we both started crying. He cried because he wanted to be with us, and I cried because I told him that no one had banned him from coming, but that he didn’t need to be there anymore - in fact, we needed him not to be there. So that players like Gonzalez, Ocampos, and others who have been in his shadow for years could get their chance."

And, of course, Di Maria understood the message.

"He’s a wonderful person, and we all would have loved for him to stay with us, but for the guys who have been in his shadow, it would have been very difficult. It’s hard for everyone to accept such a decision, but fortunately, Angel understood. I believe it was the right decision for the group because those new players brought us what we needed," Scaloni emphasized.