Ángel Di María, World Cup champion, two-time Copa América winner, and recently retired from the Albiceleste, revealed that in 2019, he seriously considered quitting the national team. He shared his thoughts on the harsh criticism he faced, stating, "In Argentina, if you don’t win, you’re a failure."

"In 2019, I was really on the fence, and my mom kept telling me to stop suffering, to stop putting myself through it. In Argentina, if you don’t win, you’re seen as a failure. I had reached my breaking point. My wife kept telling me to keep fighting until they stopped calling me up. In the end, I didn’t listen and decided to step away now," Di María said during an interview with ESPN, following his recent retirement from the national team after winning the Copa América in the United States.

When asked about the more than 10 years without titles with the national team, ‘Fideo’ admitted that after a "great World Cup in 2014" and "two really good Copa Américas," the mental toll was tough: "We’d get to the final and just couldn’t break down that wall. It ended up killing us."

"The worst was losing the second Copa América; that’s when everything fell apart. After the first one, we still had hope, thinking we could do it, that we were close. But after the second loss, that was the hardest blow, and that’s when a lot of us started leaving the team," added the current Benfica forward.

The former Real Madrid and PSG star also revealed that he went through more "tough times" with the Albiceleste than moments of joy, but he explained: "All those moments of joy outweighed the tough times I went through, and for me, that’s what really matters."

"I wouldn’t change a thing; if I had to go through all the suffering with the national team to end up like this, I’d do it all over again," he clarified, just over a month after retiring from the national team.

Di María expressed pride in being able to "bring joy" to the Argentine people, and even though he emphasized that many criticized him "for the injuries, for not winning things," he noted that the vast majority "stood by (supported) him a lot."

‘Fideo,’ who now considers himself "just another fan" of the Albiceleste, will be honored on August 5th during the match in Buenos Aires between Argentina and Chile for the seventh round of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Despite possibly not receiving the media recognition he deserved, the former Manchester United and Juventus player, now 36, has been part of all the major successes of the Albiceleste in recent years: he scored in the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where Argentina won gold; in the final of the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, and in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

He also added the titles of the 2022 Finalissima and the latest 2024 Copa América to his endless list of achievements with clubs he has played for: leagues and cups in Spain, Portugal, and France, not to mention the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup with Real Madrid.