Original subtitles

We're looking at some newspaper clippings

from the time when Ángel and I were still dating.

His sister Vanesa collected these.

I went with him to Europe, where the first club he played for was Benfica.

Here's his transfer

to Real Madrid.

And here's the girl that gave Ángel her telephone number.

You can just see her face, back behind him!

[laughing]

These things are all behind us now,

but it's fun to have these memories of them.

[tense music playing]

Other than the World Cup news, there's more to know about soccer.

Real Madrid's first acquisition for next season is now in Spain.

We're talking about Ángel Di María.

[reporter] The international player arrived

at the Barajas Airport at 6:10 a.m.,

and will be introduced at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

this Friday at 1:00 p.m.

-Are you happy to be in Madrid? -Yeah, I'm very happy.

We got off the plane, and we were walking toward the elevator,

and this girl came up and said, "Here, take my number."

And she handed me a piece of paper with her number.

I wanted to die. I couldn't believe that was happening on my first day there.

We'd been together for about a year.

Not long at all. It was all new, and this was Real Madrid.

She gave me her number, and I just took it...

WIFE

I took the paper from him.

She gave him her number right in front of me!

She tore up the piece of paper immediately.

But the whole thing did get us off to kind of a bad start.

[somber music playing]

[Cardoso] I told him I was going back to Rosario.

I wasn't going to put up with this kind of life.

I'm not a jealous person, but that was really too much.

She did that right in front of me!

It just didn't make sense.

And I was supposed to tolerate ten years of things like that?

No, no, no. Not for me. Not even a little.

[emotional music playing]

I knew she was already upset.

But then after we got to our room,

she started crying, so I proposed to her.

I got on my knees and I asked her.

"Sheesh, what am I going to do with this dude?"

He's saying all these things.

"I'll die if you leave me. You have to stay!"

"I'd die if I couldn't be with you."

"Let's get married. Marry me."

And I said, "No, I don't want to get married yet! Wait!"

I didn't want to get married yet!

I was just, like, "Slow down." It was too much too fast.

But, you know, I stayed. I stayed.

This was 2010, and the next year we got married.

["Wedding March" playing]

We got a call from them, and they said they were going to get married in Rosario.

That was something different for us

because we had never been to a wedding there.

They were super happy.

Jorgelina got to share that moment with her dad.

That was a big deal for her.

[Di María] She was the one for me. That's what I felt at the time.

And thank God, I... I chose right.

And the reception party was awesome.

[Latin American dance music playing]

Nobody knows this story... Well, maybe a few people do.

It had a happy ending, though.

ÁNGEL DI MARÍA: BREAKING DOWN THE WALL

[music ends]

The truth is, getting to know José Mourinho, that was great.

He was in his prime.

He was definitely one of the best managers in the world.

To have him be my coach was, uh, incredible.

[reporter] This is Ángel Di María's debut with Real Madrid.

[Mourinho] I had no doubts technically.

I had no doubts physically,

because his intensity was... his speed was something without doubt.

What I was analyzing the most

before making the decision was the personality.

And that kid had no fear.

[commentator] And Di María finds the net!

[Ramos] Ángel was always, uh,

a very discreet guy.

Very humble, very shy.

And as players we took him under our wing.

I think that all players who arrive at soccer teams as large as Real Madrid

need some time to adapt to the change,

but Di María only needed about two or three months.

Everyone in Real Madrid and at the Santiago Bernabéu

just loved the way he played soccer.

Real Madrid at that time was not a winning team.

REAL MADRID, ANOTHER LET DOWN

THE CLUB HAS LOST ITS STATUS

It was a team with years of... of no progression in... in Europe,

not winning domestic titles.

We needed really what I used to call that, um...

"no fear mentality."

And I felt that he could.

[commentator] Xabi Alonso. What a pass that was!

[Mourinho] Such a young guy, he arrived in Real Madrid,

and, um, immediately he became...

the famous three.

In the end there were four.

[commentator] Cristiano Ronaldo is now in the box. He could score!

[Mourinho] Ángel on the right, Cristiano on the left,

Gonzalo and Karim alternating in...

in the middle.

And they did it for years.

[commentator] Di María's coming from the right, looking to cross...

Ronaldo scores a goal!

[Di María] We won the Spanish Cup that year.

And Real Madrid hadn't won it in a long time.

[commentator] Real Madrid has won the Spanish Cup

for the first time in 18 years.

My second year at Real Madrid was really important for me

because we won LaLiga.

Barcelona had been winning it every year up until then.

The truth is, those three years with the club were amazing.

Mourinho has always had an excellent relationship with his players.

And as a coach, he helped me a lot, but he also helped Di María.

He was key in Di María's development as a player.

From the technical point of view, I changed nothing.

Um... I think it was born with him.

He was developing by himself, playing... probably in the street with his friends.

But football at a high level is not the same as football in the street.

You have to be a player with a brain, that understands the game,

that understands the timings, that understands the strategies.

Football is not a science.

And what I used to say, that he was a chaotic player.

And, for me, to become a top player in a top team,

you cannot be a chaotic player.

So, when you're playing for a big team, we need always to find a balance.

And I think with me he found that... that balance.

[commentator] Benzema makes a deep pass.

Di María reaches the ball and makes it into the box!

Di María scores!

We got married in July of 2011.

Part of the wedding involved filming inside, uh, one of those photo booths.

I want more grandchildren, I want more as soon as possible.

That happened in July,

and then in December, he had a heart attack.

-[melancholy music playing] -[crying] My father was dead.

[sniffling]

[commentator] Di María scores!

The Argentine player has had a difficult week due to a tragedy in his family.

GERMÁN, YOU'LL BE FOREVER MISSED

On that day, our lives changed forever because that was the same time

that what we wanted was to welcome Mía into our lives.

[commentator] Di María coming in from the right!

He's at the edge of the box. Looking for a second one.

Goal! Di María scores from the box and then goes wild!

The pregnancy was smooth sailing for us at the beginning. It was perfect.

[heartfelt string music playing]

[Cardoso] I was due to deliver on July 4th,

which was coincidentally his sister Vanesa's birthday.

When we went in to do the ultrasound, we couldn't see her.

And her face was blocked.

She was turning herself around.

I felt strange. Something wasn't right.

The technician left, and came back with two doctors.

And they said I needed to be admitted, um, because I had low fluid levels.

What they found was that there was a rupture in the placenta.

She had been gradually losing fluids without realizing it.

[Cardoso] I was in my 28th week, too early for the baby to be born.

But I told Ángel, "I feel like they need to get her out."

"She'll die if she stays."

"She will die if she stays in my womb. Take her out."

He told me to wait, but I said, "She'll die."

[heartfelt music fades out]

[Cardoso] The C-section was scheduled for the 22nd.

If things went all right, she'd need to stay in an incubator for

two months, give or take.

And she was born.

-[hopeful piano music playing] -[baby crying]

[machine beeping]

[Di María] Mourinho knew what was going on.

He told me to stay during labor,

but to catch a flight for the next day's game.

[crowd cheering]

People were talking shit, all sorts of stuff, but they didn't know.

They didn't know that I went and left my wife there,

alone in NICU, and I still had to go and play.

My heart was in two places.

In the game and there.

But that's just how soccer is,

and it's my job, and I'll always respect it for that reason.

[commentator] Di María from the right, he squeezes through!

He shoots from close range! Goal! Di María!

[Di María] I still had to travel with the team, still had to stay focused.

I guess you could say my life was the same.

Except... Except for the fact I had a daughter in NICU.

We used to visit her every night, always wishing her sweet dreams...

[voice breaking] because we knew... we knew she might not be there the next day.

It was... No two days were the same.

We stayed in Madrid for a month,

so we could visit little Mía every morning.

I remember it well.

We would go in to see her and...

she was inside that incubator, full of cables and tubes everywhere.

She was so small...

She was no longer than half an arm. She was that small.

[Di María] Yeah... Yeah...

[Cardoso] Hi.

[Claudia] Mía was no bigger than a doll.

And you could literally dress her in doll's clothing then.

Because she was only around one or one and a half pounds.

But we stayed by their side,

just the way they've always been by our side,

whenever the going got rough.

[Cardoso] Hello, sweetie.

To give birth, then go home without the baby?

I don't know.

I used to tell Ángel that it felt like they had stolen her from us.

We used to hold each other when we left the hospital.

We didn't talk. We were just crying. We held onto each other and we just cried.

It's impossible to describe.

[voice breaking] There are no words for...

for...

for what our minds and our bodies were going through at the time.

I think becoming a father is one of the greatest experiences ever.

No doubt.

But to always know that she...

that she might not be there the next day?

There are no words.

By far, I think that was the toughest moment of my life.

Let's see that smile.

[people laughing]

-[woman exclaiming excitedly] -[man] Welcome home!

[Cardoso] Then we returned home. And, yes, I became a mom.

I had spent two months without my baby.

Honey, come here. Come here for a second.

We got home and asked ourselves, "Now what do we do?"

We were new parents, what are you supposed to do?

What do you do with this package?

[gentle music playing]

Paint the bird. I'll paint the bunny.

-What's that? -[Pía] I don't know.

Pía, that's a marker!

[Pía] How did I stain my shirt?

[Mía laughing]

The troubles made us the family we are today, I think.

It helped us build this beautiful family.

To me, that's what matters the most.

[music ends]

-Tell us about the trip to Madrid. -Whoa, that was a tough one, man.

Just give me a second.

All right, so it's noon on a Sunday, and I was eating with the family.

And all of a sudden, the phone rings.

It's Ángel. Ángel never calls, man, you know?

It's all texts. Crazy, ya know?

I go outside, talk to him, he says,

"Hey, man, you good? Everything okay? Whatcha doing?"

"I'm here at home. We just ate."

He says, "You got any vacation time saved up?"

-I tell him, "Yeah, sure." -[man] Of course you did!

A whole month if you want, man! I'm in for whatever!

I took a flight the next day and got to Madrid.

And eventually, I get to immigration.

I show 'em my passport, my documents, and said I was a friend of Ángel Di María.

And they asked me the result of the Real Madrid-Barcelona game.

Because those two had played a game earlier that day.

"I don't know. I've been traveling."

-I couldn't check my phone on the flight. -You could've checked your phone!

The fact I didn't know made them suspicious of me.

Yeah, he traveled to Madrid with no luggage,

wearing glasses, black sunglasses, of course.

You know what they said? He's a trafficker.

A dangerous man.

-They said, "Are you carrying cash?" -[all laughing]

Now I'm sweating. And I said no.

I said, "I got 150 pesos on me, that's it."

-[all laughing] -Pesos!

"Oh, and that's all you need for a trip to Spain, huh?"

And I started to hear some murmuring or something,

and I see Ángel in the distance.

He comes rolling up all casual, he's got two police officers behind him.

So we get there, and he's just sitting there,

and he's got his glasses on top of his head.

I said, "You're chillin' right now?"

"They'll deport you. You're acting like it's nothing."

He comes right up to me, and he just says, "Come here," and it's passport, boom!

Off we go! Just like it was nothing!

And I'm looking at the guards like,

"I told you I was his friend! I told you, but you didn't believe me".

That was my first experience in Spain. It was wild, man.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter 1] Ancelotti is now Real Madrid's new manager,

replacing José Mourinho.

Despite three excellent seasons,

Mourinho wasn't able to win the coveted Champions League tournament.

[Di María] They bought Bale the same year Ancelotti joined the club.

[reporter 2] Florentino's eyes are on the market.

He intends to replenish Real Madrid's ranks.

I knew I was on my way out.

We had Bale, Cristiano, Benzema...

Uh... what was I supposed to do?

I couldn't. It was impossible.

[reporter 1] Di María will come off, and this will be Gareth Bale's debut.

Even at the start, Ángel wasn't playing every game

because I saw him as essentially an attacker,

a winger and I also had Bale and Cristiano in those positions.

But he never...

As far as I know, he was never upset about not playing in every game.

[tense music playing]

[commentator] Real Madrid will make a substitution.

Gareth Bale for Di María. He's slowly earning his place in the team.

Things weren't going so well during one home game,

and that's when the "I made myself comfortable" situation happened.

The clip shows clearly what happened.

[commentator] Di María looks at the stands and thinks,

"I'm gonna tell everybody I really don't like the way I'm being treated here".

[reporter] Right as he's substituted.

-[rewinding] -When you get substituted in a game,

you may, uh...

Uh, you may not be feeling the happiest.

Everyone thought I grabbed my crotch.

But it wasn't like that.

I was just making myself comfortable on my way off.

Do I have to be honest, really? [laughing]

[Cristian] What's done is done.

People mess up all the time,

I messed up plenty of times, so I just didn't want him to...

to go through that, so I told him he should apologize.

Obviously, he apologized and said, "I was making myself comfortable."

I apologize, I didn't mean to insult anybody.

Nobody believed he was being honest.

He was disrespectful toward the fans, the club and the Santiago Bernabéu.

I'd appreciate it if the Di María topic could be wrapped up soon

because we have a lot of games to play.

And we need him.

We need Ángel Di María to perform in every game.

[man] Here's the stadium. Brings back memories, huh?

[Di María] Yeah.

Every kid watching the Champions League with his friends dreams of it.

You dream of playing there someday,

playing at that level,

and experiencing the emotions and the adrenaline of it.

[reporter] Lisbon will be Spanish for a day,

as thousands of Madrid and Atlético de Madrid fans

have made the trip here to the Portuguese capital.

[exciting music playing]

[commentator] Welcome to the Champions League final,

where Real Madrid will have its most important game in 12 years

facing off against Atlético de Madrid.

It really turned out to be an unforgettable day for us

because it was our first Champions League, you know?

[commentator] Godín with the header! Goal! Atlético scores!

[reporter] Atlético de Madrid could almost taste victory,

while Real Madrid wasted every opportunity they had.

[commentator] It's almost over, but a corner kick for Real Madrid!

Modrić, Ramos! Real Madrid scores the equalizer!

Goal!

Di María was the key for getting us that coveted tenth Champions League trophy.

[commentator] Di María skipping past two, three players.

He's there! He shoots at the goalkeeper! Bale! Goal!

Gareth Bale scores!

[Ancelotti] I remember the second play,

the one that led directly to the second goal.

It was amazing. It was key.

That led us to win the trophy.

We were really happy when we won the Champions League trophy together.

That tenth tournament win had eluded Real Madrid for so long,

and it was amazing to do that,

to know that we finally made that happen.

It's a big deal to win the Champions League, and...

I remember that it felt like a dream come true.

It was unique, it felt like now everything was complete,

and we really enjoyed it.

[reporter] It took 12 years, but the tenth Champions League trophy is here,

and thousands of fans are celebrating at plaza de Cibeles.

[fireworks popping]

Yeah, he was the MVP, he stole it from me. [laughing]

[man] And the award for best player in the final, the MVP,

goes to the Argentine Di María.

It's something that you dream of from the time you're little.

It's something that you really want. So I feel really happy to have this.

[fans singing]

I was going through an exceptional time.

I was playing for the best club in the world,

and the 2014 World Cup was coming,

so I was just, you know, going all in.

I was in my prime.

[exciting music playing]

2014 FIFA WORLD CUP - BRAZIL

[reporter] Argentine fans have begun to swarm the legendary Copacabana Beach.

[fans singing]

The 2014 World Cup was unforgettable in every way.

[commentator] Messi collects the pass. He shoots! And goal!

Messi scores for Argentina!

We had a great team.

[commentator] Messi with the kick!

[Di María] Using his left leg, he shot to the far post.

He scored during a free kick. He did everything.

And there were other even better results.

[commentator] Argentina-Iran, one-zero! What a goal at the end of the game!

We kept on winning, and we didn't lose a single game.

THE ARGENTINE MIRACLE

[commentator] Argentina has made it into the round of 16!

Rio is getting closer,

and while many Argentines may be questioning if they should come,

it's clear that some of them have already made up their minds.

[fans singing]

We were all sure that, um...

no matter who we faced, we'd be able to hold our own.

That we were good enough to put up a fight against anyone,

and that we'd make it far if we did that.

And... we did.

[commentator] We may have to go to penalties, but now Messi has the ball!

He passes it to Di María.

Di María with the one-touch, and he scores!

The way that goal happened,

and the fact that it was right at the end of regulation,

it was just perfect timing.

It was a dream to score at a World Cup.

And on top of that,

it happened during an important game of the round of 16.

It really was... It was amazing.

[commentator] Incredible! Let's go, Argentina!

You're the best, Ángel! You're the best!

[man] And your friends were all there too, right?

[chuckles]

Ángel asked when we were dropping by and, uh...

Of course we wanted to!

So we said yes, and then he said he had tickets for us for the games.

And he had checked and there was a flight from Buenos Aires to Rio,

and they had enough seats for all of us.

The moment we got that message...

[fans singing in Spanish] ♪ Tell me how it feels ♪

♪ To have your daddy in your house ♪

[commentator] Everything's ready here for Argentina and Belgium to face off,

with a spot in the semifinals on the line.

Kompany is marking Messi.

Now Di María with the fake near the box and he shoots!

[tense music playing]

Di María seems to be experiencing pain in his right leg.

He's a nervous person, so his legs... His legs have to do all the work.

That's what I think.

No doctor has told me that or anything.

I say it's because of his nervousness.

He's so nervous, and his legs are so tight and so tense,

he gets injured whenever he starts running.

[commentator] Again, Ángel? Another injury? This can't be happening.

Of course I heard the talk, and it was hard for me to cope with.

Every time I got injured,

I felt like I was letting my teammates down.

That I was letting the team down, and that's what bothered me the most.

I honestly felt worse about that than I did for myself.

It felt horrible.

[crowd jeering]

The guy just couldn't handle the pressure,

whether it was the pressure of being on the national team,

the fans, the criticism, the injuries...

I think you're the only one that thinks that we aren't playing well.

I think we're doing things just right.

We're focusing on what matters, winning games,

and we need victories in order to win the World Cup.

-I wasn't watching the sports channels. -I did all the time.

Are you telling me that you never heard anybody talking about how Ángel was shit?

That he couldn't handle the pressure,

-he was always injured, things like that? -Of course.

They were blaming him for everything.

You need to fight back or ignore what they say,

or you'll be arguing with everybody.

[reporter 1] Argentina has reached the World Cup final again!

It may have taken 24 years, but the dream is still there!

[reporter 2] The World Cup final is starting to shape up like a celebration.

Thousands of Argentines want to see Messi and Di María walk out of the game,

holding the World Cup trophy in their hands.

-[man 1] He tested it. -[man 2] Sure.

He's fine in training, but feels pain during the games.

Now wait just a moment, it wasn't like that.

We know this, Coach met face-to-face with him,

and the kid probably said he wanted to play.

I remember that we trained the day before the final

at Vasco da Gama Stadium.

And Ángel was there and he started training,

and he gave it his best, he really wanted to play.

I don't know the circumstances or what was involved,

but it was decided that he wouldn't be playing.

[dramatic stinger]

The doctor brought me a letter when I woke up in the morning,

and surprisingly it was from Real Madrid.

The team had sent it saying they didn't want me to play for Argentina in the final

because I wasn't 100% cleared.

[ominous music playing]

He visited Sabella that morning, and they, uh...

Uh, they had a conversation.

And I guess you could say

that Sabella was not feeling convinced.

[man] When Argentina reached the final,

Di María was said to be injured,

and the club sent a letter to the national team

stating that they felt he shouldn't be playing.

-Do you remember any of that? -No.

So, yeah, I tore the letter up.

[dramatic music playing]

DI MARÍA IS OUT

I remember that he was in my room,

and Mascherano dropped by to find out what had happened,

and we ended hugging,

and crying, because...

we knew how important this was to Ángel.

Here he was, he was so close, yet he was getting sidelined.

We were so close, the fans were invested.

We had created this new connection between the team and... and the fans.

[commentator] Today, we will have a champion!

Will it be Argentina?

[Messi] It was hard for him...

Because here we were, about to play the World Cup final.

And you never know if there'll be a second time.

It's very hard just to get there once, let alone twice.

[somber music playing]

[commentator] Götze with the cross...

And Germany scores.

With only eight minutes left now before the end of the game,

this puts Argentina in a difficult spot.

It puts Messi in a difficult spot.

It was... It was really tough.

[commentator] Germany has won its fourth World Cup.

Just like they did in 2006 and 2010,

the German team has put an end to Argentina's World Cup ambitions.

We were this close to winning the whole thing that year.

And the way the dream ended,

especially considering the high expectations we'd created for Argentina

with the way we'd reached the final...

that devastated me.

[reporter] Serious incidents have been reported in Córdoba, in La Plata,

and in the capital, Buenos Aires.

Man, I can't believe this.

What's wrong with us?

Tear gas everywhere.

Vandalism across the country.

That's who we are.

We always want to win, and second place is... it's...

It's just not enough for us, it's...

It's all about being champions.

I'll say it again.

Di María's situation is the thing that killed us.

We lacked an explosive player capable of finding the spots,

and then receiving passes from Messi,

and who's capable of placing those passes.

It's a shame, it is.

When he went out, we couldn't replace him.

Nobody could fill his spot!

[Alexis] While we felt Argentina's defeat as viewers,

it was harder for him to be there, knowing he couldn't play.

It was really hard for him.

Argentina wasn't meant to win at Brazil.

That's it. It just wasn't meant to happen.

Such is fate.

[somber music continues]

[crowd cheering]

[man] If he had played, would things have turned out differently?

[chuckles]

[reporter 1] After losing the World Cup final,

Ángel Di María must now face another challenge.

[reporter 2] Di María's days at Real Madrid are numbered.

Manchester United could make a move at any moment.

Everybody was high on him right then.

Understandably, given his excellent performance the previous season, for us.

Neither Ancelotti nor I really knew what was going on,

but he'd been told that I wanted to leave.

I told him that wasn't the case.

Real Madrid made the best possible offer, and he didn't take it.

So apparently he wants to leave.

DOES HE WANT TO EARN THE SAME?

People said I wanted to earn as much as Cristiano.

I don't see how anyone could think that

since Cristiano had earned the Ballon d'Or.

I'd have to score 80 goals a year.

But that's what the press said.

And people ate it up.

The only one they talked shit about was me.

No player earns that amount of money except one, Cristiano Ronaldo.

I never had the chance to speak one-on-one with Florentino Pérez.

I think that was a missed opportunity, and that things might have been different

if we'd had that conversation.

[reporter] Di María's exit signals the departure

of the last hero of the Lisbon final,

where the club won its tenth Champions League cup.

[Ancelotti] There's affection.

Plenty of it, especially every time I've seen him in person.

Personally, I hold him close in my heart.

We were sad, you know? Because...

he is an outstanding player of course,

but this was a close friend, leaving for another country.

And Ángel Di María has said goodbye to his Real Madrid teammates.

He's been acquired by Manchester United,

who are said to have already begun negotiating his transfer with Real Madrid.

And while the transfer has the potential to earn Real Madrid

around eighty million euros,

the club will have to let go of the MVP of the last Champions League final.

[exciting music playing]

[reporter] Ángel Di María has become the most expensive player

in the history of the Premier League.

2014 - MANCHESTER - ENGLAND

Yes, I'm very pleased that we can, uh...

have such a class player in our squad.

I hope...

he shall, uh, give us, uh, good results.

[music ends]

Uh... [laughs uncomfortably] That's a tough one!

[exciting music continues]

He got off to a really good start in Manchester.

Van Gaal was very welcoming.

It really means a lot to me.

To wear the same jersey that has been worn before by such legends.

I knew the importance of Man U player number seven.

I knew who had worn that jersey before me.

It's a big jersey. If it was me I'd've turned it down.

[commentator] Di María comes on to the pitch.

[Ander] He had a great start.

He was crucial during the first three or four games.

I was scoring goals, making assists every game, left and right.

It was all incredible.

[commentator] Rooney passes to Di María, who chips the goalkeeper!

What a fantastic goal!

Daddy scores! He scores!

Congratulations, you were the player of the game in your debut!

Thank you. Thank you very much.

He says "thank you." [laughs]

[Mata] Listen up!

I now present to you...

-[all laughing, clapping] -[Cardoso] Come on!

[Mata] ...Herrera, the worm!

[man] Hey, he's a good dancer!

[Herrera] It looked at first like he was bound to become

another legend at Manchester United.

But things just kind of soured.

[ominous music playing]

Van Gaal was the type of coach

who was very critical when analyzing his players' actions.

And I found it surprising that he considered it

unacceptable for Ángel to make three or four mistakes per game.

[reporter] Something strange is happening between Van Gaal and Di María.

We were winning, I was making assists and scoring, but he didn't mention that.

He only ever wanted to talk about the mistakes.

Identifying and learning from your mistakes is crucial, of course,

but given my position as a forward,

I'm bound to make mistakes because I'm always trying.

My job is to always go for an assist or take a shot on goal.

[Herrera] It reached a point where things just got out of hand.

Compared to everyone else on the team,

it seemed like the coach was being way stricter with him,

and I think most of the players even thought it was excessive at times.

Eventually, I think all the criticism ended up undermining Ángel's confidence.

[somber music playing]

I had sold more jerseys than anyone else upon my arrival to the Premier League.

And I was the club's most expensive acquisition,

so I was finding myself under a lot of pressure.

Really, that year was shit.

[reporter] The relationship between Van Gaal and Di María is broken.

[Cardoso] Manchester is a city that gets very little sunlight.

It gets dark very early.

The sun sets around 2:30, 3:00. Lots of rain.

Coming from Madrid, which resembles Argentina the most,

Manchester's culture felt very different.

I was struggling to adapt.

[Di María] One...

Two...

-And... -Three!

Yeah!

[all cheering]

Then in February, around my birthday,

we were coming home after a game,

and we found some people trying to break into our home.

DI MARÍA'S BRUSH WITH ROBBERY IN ENGLAND

[tense music playing]

[Cardoso] We were returning home with Mía, who was still a little girl,

and her babysitter at the time, Majo.

As we entered the garden, I noticed a beam of light.

It looked like a flashlight.

Suddenly, three huge guys

dressed all in black appeared at the window in front of us.

They were about two meters away.

And just then one of them started trying to break the window with a club,

just hitting it again and again.

The babysitter rushed Mía upstairs,

and she pressed the alarm button when she was on her way up.

I didn't know she'd done that at the time.

There was a knife there on the table,

and I was holding a chair up against the glass.

And I hear Ángel saying, "One moment! One moment!"

That's all the English he knew!

I was just trying to buy some time for my family to get upstairs, you know?

Once I got upstairs,

I threw Ángel the wallet but it only had pesos in it!

I didn't know that!

But later when we were safe, he said,

"What the hell, did you want me to die? You gave me pesos, not pounds!"

Then there were four officers and a helicopter.

We don't know if the men escaped, if the alarm scared them away or what.

But there was snow on the ground,

and the men's footprints were this huge, like a size 58.

Like out of a movie!

Once we were out of that awful situation,

then I still had to stay at a hotel for a month

while I was trying to find us another apartment.

That was psychologically kind of devastating.

I already wasn't feeling good because of the whole thing with the coach,

and so this was kind of the last straw.

That day I knew I wanted to leave. I knew I didn't want to be there.

For his birthday, which is on February 14th,

I decided I would try to arrange

a surprise visit from all his friends from Rosario.

[upbeat string music playing]

When we traveled to Manchester,

it was quite an experience. It was incredible.

Ángel was away, playing a game.

So I locked myself with Mía and all his friends in my room,

and then once he opened the door...

[Cardoso shushing]

[all shouting, applauding]

-[Di María exclaiming] -[all laughing]

There was laughing, singing, hugging...

He was crying like a baby, all that. So good.

[all shouting happily]

Unbelievable!

-How's this possible? -[all laughing]

I'm still speechless, man!

[Di María] It was quite a feat to bring everybody there,

and somehow she did it.

She made it happen, and to be honest,

if we put the bad experiences aside, that was one of my best birthdays.

That was good, but wait, it got even better,

because later on I caught them all playing soccer in the hallway at 2:00 a.m.!

They were lucky we'd just gone through the break-in and Mía wasn't in the house.

If they'd done that in my house with my girl there,

they'd never hear the end of it!

I remember that I went outside because we heard some noises,

and, you know, you can imagine our state of mind at the time,

after what we had been through, we didn't even feel safe at the hotel.

We were super sensitive to things.

There was a security guard by our door.

We were kicking the ball around, and Ángel came out wearing his underwear.

He was still kinda shook up,

and he was thinking someone had come to rob him,

-and was trying to break down the door. -[laughing]

So I come out in my underwear, and the guard was there,

and I ask him, "Good?"

And he said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

The next morning,

once we woke up and I asked the guys what had been going on out there,

they told me they had been playing soccer with the security guard,

and I was just like, "Goddammit. It was you guys all along."

Back and forth from goalkeeper to security guard.

He wanted a piece of the action!

Yeah!

They were all having fun, and that's okay, it was great.

I remember we were brushing our teeth after breakfast

when we had one of our last conversations,

and he said he wasn't coming back next year.

I didn't believe him, and I told him look, the club just paid what?

Seventy or eighty million euros for your transfer from Real.

"There is absolutely no way you're leaving. No way."

[ominous music playing]

I told him I'd see him in July, but he said, "No, Ander."

"Call me. We can meet wherever you want, but we won't meet here."

I didn't go.

My agent kept calling me, saying I needed to catch a flight back.

I was in Rosario with my family.

"Not going, not going, not going." And I didn't.

[upbeat music playing]

PSG made its offer, and Ángel didn't hesitate.

[reporter] Transferred to PSG for 63 million.

Ángel Di María's arrival has sparked a revolution in the French capital.

Paris was completely different.

From day one, I felt totally different.

[calm music playing]

2015 - PARIS, FRANCE

[Di María] The lifestyle, the people...

The city, it was incredible.

We got some churros to go along with our maté.

-They're hot. -Yeah, they're warm.

Ángel always arrives first, and I remember he used to send me messages from Paris.

He was sure that we'd be happy there.

That it was very much like Madrid.

That I didn't need to worry.

I got to Paris a little bit before Di María,

and I remember the jersey numbers.

I could wear number 32, or 25, and some others. And 11.

And I couldn't pick number 11, how could I pick that one?

[crowd chanting] Di María!

Some time later Di María arrived and chose number 11,

so it seemed like God had reserved that number for him.

He arrived at a time when PSG was developing as a team,

on its way to becoming a big club

with some of the best players.

He was definitely key in helping the club reach new heights.

[commentator] PSG wins the 2018 Coupe de la Ligue!

Everybody at the club, respected him, they loved him.

Many players came and went during my seven years at the club.

Important players. For example, Ibra...

Cavani...

[commentator] Di María... Goal!

[Di María] And Neymar arrived during my last year.

[commentator] ...from Neymar. A header from Di María. PSG scores!

[Di María] Kylian...

[commentator] In the box. Pass from Di María, Mbappé... Yes!

[Di María] For seven years, every year I won something.

Plenty of titles.

I feel nothing but gratitude toward France, and Paris, and PSG.

And the cherry on top, because that's how much it meant to me,

was being teammates with Messi on a club team.

It was really nice.

Even though we had been playing together for 15 years,

playing for the same club means spending way more time together.

I got the chance to really get to know him...

as a person.

To see him go through different situations.

Joy, happiness, sadness. Everything.

And I got the chance to know the real person he is.

And to meet and

to get to know his family, his wife, his daughters.

[girl] I like it when Daddy's home.

Of course I had known him for a while, in a way, out on the field,

but he proved to be a far better person than I had imagined.

[Neymar] We'd always get together, and do something at my house,

or at the house of some other player.

Argentinians and Brazilians. Some Portuguese guys would come too.

It was rare for a French person to show up.

We'd have a laugh, have a day off with friends and family.

We'd always get together because you've got your family at home, of course,

but your family also keeps getting bigger,

just as a result of day-to-day life with the team, and...

It's strange to say it, but...

Uh, um...

Sometimes you see the people on the team more than your family, who are far away.

I'm going to tell you a secret,

but you can't tell anybody else.

At all.

This secret stays among us five here. Okay?

Look. Do you see that?

Do you know what that is?

It's you!

Look at the small hand.

-Is that my sister? -Yeah, look.

Pía was born in París.

Hello, sweetie.

Look. Daddy's holding you.

You're so small.

Here comes the bite.

Ángel and Pía fill our home with love and joy.

[dryer blowing]

[whimsical piano music playing]

[both giggling]

[Di María] And the next penalty kick will be taken by...

Pía Di María!

[mimicking whistle]

What a goal!

And she celebrates with a heart.

A club legend.

And the memory I'll always have is the way he speaks French now.

It's incredible. He's going to speak for the first time.

-No, no... -This'll be great.

[man laughing]

When I arrived in Paris,

Ángel was the same person but he was a completely different soccer player.

He was back to his former self again.

He felt appreciated, his family was happy.

-Go Dad! -Daddy scores! Daddy scores!

-Yeah! -Daddy scores!

I think his performance with Paris Saint-Germain was

very good. Really good.

It was maybe even better than what...

he was expecting.

[commentator] Di María... and he scores!

Every year, he's been one of the top players. Without a doubt.

He had the most assists in history,

winning tournaments and scoring lots of goals. He did it all.

[commentator] PSG is French champion!

He's a real winner, and he's got the trophies to prove it.

His name's gone down in PSG history as the player with the most assists.

I think that's his real strength.

[commentator] Centered to Di María, to Mbappé, and he scores!

Di María is the kind of soccer player who makes a difference when he's on the pitch.

He does more than just play the game.

In his time with PSG, He took them to a whole new level.

[commentator] Ángel Di María's PSG just keeps winning.

[Di María] I won 18 trophies in all with PSG.

There are almost no words to describe what we achieved there.

And yet we always missed out on the Champions League.

We were so close so many times, and once we even made it to the final.

But we lost that game, so I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

That's the way soccer is, and... yeah.

I feel proud of those 18 trophies though,

even though we didn't achieve that Champions League trophy.

[somber music playing]

[reporter 1] We now have confirmation of the news no one ever wanted to hear,

Diego Armando Maradona has passed away.

[reporter 2] The news is spreading worldwide,

Diego Armando Maradona is dead.

[reporter 1] This is a day of mourning for soccer. Maradona is dead.

[Di María] I started receiving messages saying that Diego had passed away,

and that hit me quite hard.

There were those nights when he came to my room to talk with me.

Remembering my experiences with him in 2010...

Yeah, he always had my back.

That was one of the saddest days of my life.

1960-2020 TIMELESS THE WORLD MOURNS MARADONA'S PASSING

He has definitely secured his place in the heart of Argentines.

FAREWELL, DIEGO I'M FOREVER GRATEFUL

YOU'LL ALWAYS LIVE IN OUR HEARTS

[music ends]

[Cardoso] We were having a great time in Paris.

We didn't want to leave.

But the president of the club decided not to renew his contract.

And I was angry because it wasn't Ángel's fault, but...

Well, sometimes marketing can matter more than quality to certain soccer teams.

Saying goodbye...

As I remember, it was...

It was a sad day.

Knowing that he wanted to stay with PSG,

and that the club didn't wanna renew his contract,

that was sad for everyone around him.

Soccer is really crazy,

because one day the club is depending on you,

and the next day they get rid of you like you're nothing.

Seven years.

Not bad.

It's quite a while.

Yeah. I hope people pay tribute to him the way he deserves.

Everything he's done here was great.

[man] How will you remember him?

So many ways, he's passed me the ball many times.

[both laugh]

[commentator] Fantastic pass from Di Mariá to Mbappé! Now Mbappé...

Mbappé fakes... Yes! PSG scores!

He's leaving everything behind.

I was lucky enough to see him play before, and playing with him has been an honor.

-[players chattering indistinctly] -[heartfelt music playing]

Thanks. Thank you for this year together.

[Paredes] His last game, he looked sad,

but we talked, and I told him he should be enjoying this night,

rejoicing in the warmth of the fans.

That it was going to be an important night.

And that's what it was.

[commentator] This is Di María's last match with PSG.

He left on excellent terms.

The way the fans said goodbye to him,

it's not something that happens all that often.

[Ramos] I think that was the cherry on top, right?

I'm glad that I was there when the fans said goodbye,

showing him love and appreciation for the commitment he gives

to the clubs he bonds with.

[commentator] He's helped this club to win 18 trophies in seven years,

and the fans will never forget that.

[Di María] No one had ever stopped a game for the rest of the team to celebrate

with a player before.

The fact that it happened to me

shows the respect and love that my teammates felt toward me,

and that they appreciated my commitment and qualities as a teammate.

It was tough for them to say goodbye.

What he did left an indelible mark at PSG.

[Di María] The fans of the club showed me their love.

The ultras of the club showed me their love.

That's what they call themselves.

So far, I'm the only PSG player to get a farewell like that,

and I think the reason they did it was because I remained consistent

throughout those seven years.

By then I had already heard about this from Bob,

Bob's a guy who works for the club,

that the fans wanted to celebrate after the game with me.

I thought he meant

we'd celebrate on the field, but that wasn't it.

Once the on-field celebration with my family was over,

Bob approached me.

He said that the ultras wanted to honor me outside. Outside the stadium.

And I started going outside,

but he said, "No, we're not going out to the entrance."

He said they wanted me to go out to the same spot where I had stood

after our game against Borussia Dortmund.

There's a picture of me doing this

with my shirt off, looking down at the fans.

They wanted me to go out and stand in the same spot.

[heartfelt music rises]

Enjoying that moment with the fans was really special.

You could say they're some of the hardest fans to win over,

and I guess I managed to do so because...

because I was the only player they bid farewell to.

They lit fireworks in my honor.

[fans shouting]

They also sprayed some graffiti on a wall, and they told me to sign it.

I'm nothing but grateful for all the love they showed me.

[fireworks popping]

I had done a lot, and I had accomplished a lot of my goals.

But the national team was still the most important thing.

[reporter 1] We have some news from the AFA. Jorge Sampaoli...

[reporter 2] Jorge Sampaoli is the new coach of the Argentina national team.

We were very, very excited,

and we wanted to get good results at the World Cup,

which was right around the corner.

We're here in Russia!

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP - RUSSIA

[Di María] We barely even qualified.

Honestly, things were not looking good for us.

[exciting music playing]

[reporter] After its abysmal performance against Iceland,

Argentina looks complacent. Unforgivable.

I got benched after our next game.

He didn't say why.

I didn't get called to warm up.

CROATIA 3 - ARGENTINA 0 ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF

When things are off to a bad start,

especially considering the short duration of the World Cup,

it's hard to turn things around.

[reporter] Argentina lacks leadership.

Sampaoli and the players are failing to meet the demands of this World Cup.

We were aware that as a national team,

we hadn't won the World Cup in 24, 25...

Twenty-something years, and it was weighing heavily on us.

And the critics certainly made their voices heard.

They stomped us.

I think we qualified for the round of 16 after beating Nigeria,

and we were really almost out of the tournament by then.

IT'S NOT OVER YET

We eventually faced an unstoppable France that had a lot of young players,

and they had made a lot of changes.

And that's the way we played our last game.

[tense music playing]

[reporter] Amidst rumors of strife in the staff-player relationship,

Argentina will now face France in a decisive game.

[commentator] Here comes Di María... And he scores!

Di María scores! Goal!

That's how big Argentina's dream is! Argentina!

Whenever you score a goal, you think about the insults,

about... about the people who've made your life difficult.

[intense music playing]

[music ends]

We had plenty of opportunities,

but Kylian proved to be unstoppable that day.

[reporter] An impressive victory for Les Bleus! The dream is over.

How long do we have to wait before Messi and company win something?

The game wasn't ideal,

but we should've been able to take it to a draw.

We had one more opportunity toward the end of the game,

but France just took it to us.

No, it was horrible. They lack the spirit. That's all.

We need major changes. Unfortunately, the boys are... They're a bit old.

[reporter 1] After their poor performance under Sampaoli, what's the future?

[reporter 2] Argentina hasn't won a major championship since 1993.

[reporter 1] We need to ask if Argentina is still a soccer heavyweight.

I can tell you this, every single one of us gave everything we had to win.

It sometimes feels like you hit a wall, like the one he talks about,

and you feel like things aren't going to work out.

It's extremely difficult because you're up against 11 players,

also battling yourself, and dealing with an off-field player with a microphone.

They said we're losers and should stop playing,

but as long as you're trying you're not a loser.

It's unfortunate but

that generation made you think that there was only one thing that mattered.

I think after going through it all,

and facing defeat in something as big as the World Cup or Copa América,

you find yourself reflecting on a lot of things.

[reporter] Lionel Scaloni, a former staff member during the 2018 World Cup,

is now the coach of the Argentina national team.

I know that we have the players, that we have the talent,

and that they give it all for the team.

To take the reins of the team at that time was a little crazy.

WHO'S SCALONI? WE'RE NOT WINNING A THING...

[reporter] He hasn't even led a fourth-tier team yet,

and he's now leading the national team? You must be shitting me.

After the humiliating performance at the Russia World Cup,

they have the nerve to bring in a guy with no experience?

This is the guy

who's gonna lead Argentina to a World Cup win?

You can't say that someone who's been a soccer player for years,

that they lack experience.

The players actually know a lot.

Especially when it comes to dealing with criticism.

I want to make it clear that the national team

should be the players' top priority.

No club is above the Argentine jersey.

They need to understand that, and for those who don't, well,

they won't get called up as long as we're in charge.

[reporter] The national team is undergoing major changes.

Scaloni is not calling up Ángel Di María,

and it's almost a given that he won't be playing in this Copa América.

I wasn't chosen on the second call-up.

He cried when that happened.

-I started crying. Uh... -[melancholy music playing]

I couldn't believe it. I was doing everything right at the club.

It was very painful.

And I cried a lot

listening to my son...

begging to be called up for the Argentina national team.

"Speak up. You need to say something about it."

If they don't call, and you just stay silent then it looks like

you don't give a shit about the team.

[dramatic music playing]

[crowd cheering]

She told me I needed to speak up, and make some kind of statement.

That if I didn't and I just kept quiet,

that I wasn't ever going to make it.

[commentator] Di María shoots! And he scores!

It's true we lost three finals, and so people want changes.

And even some of my own friends have told me I should stay in Paris,

and drink coffee by the Eiffel Tower.

Uh, but I said I'd rather wear the national jersey,

and get jeered by 45 million Argentines.

He always kept doing what we taught him.

I told him to keep on fighting,

and to keep on pressing forward.

Even if there are walls that get in the way,

one needs to find a way forward.

I felt that I owed myself that much.

I wanted to do it. And I needed to do it, for myself.

Yeah. That's why I persevered.

[commentator] Di María shoots! And he scores!

[dramatic music playing]

Di María! What a goal!

Di María! He scores!

[music fades out]

[soft, tense music playing]

[tense music continues]

[music fades out]