Ángel Di María scored twice for Benfica in their 2-0 win vs. Nacional.
Di María made it five goals in his last five league matches with Benfica, scoring in their win. With the score at 0-0, Benfica were awarded a penalty and it was Di María who took it.
The 36 year old would go to his right with the goalkeeper diving to the left and he would score to give Benfica the 1-0 lead. Di María would add one more goal.
With Benfica leading 1-0, the ball fell to the Argentine inside the penalty area and he would score his second goal of the game.
AFA Estudio gathered five players from Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning team: Lautaro Martínez, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Emiliano Martínez, and Gonzalo Montiel. They looked back at the tournament, match by match, and shared memories of their amazing journey to becoming champions in Qatar.
The first photo was from the opening match, showing the first goal in the surprising 1-2 loss to Saudi Arabia. It sparked some playful teasing toward Emi Martínez, with his teammates joking, “You could have done more,” as they laughed. Dibu joined in, saying, “I was caught cold; it was the first shot of the tournament,” making everyone laugh even harder.
Emiliano Martínez then added:
“That goal didn’t bother me much. I thought, okay, it’s 1-1, we’ll recover. But the second goal, that one really affected me.”
The second photo showed Enzo Fernández celebrating his amazing goal in the 2-0 win against Mexico. Lautaro Martínez added, “We were really struggling at that point.”
Enzo reflected on that moment and said, “I never imagined scoring in a World Cup. I didn’t even think I would be there, so it was unbelievable.” His teammates didn’t let him off the hook, though, as Alexis Mac Allister teased, “He started blowing up like crazy,” and Dibu jumped in, “Yeah, his Instagram blew up too,” which sent everyone into laughter.
The third photo showed Emiliano Martínez’s key penalty save against the Netherlands in the quarterfinal shootout. Dibu explained, “I had seen Van Dijk take a penalty in the FA Cup final against Chelsea. Kepa moved to one side, and Van Dijk still shot in that direction. I figured he’d do the same here. But after that save, I had back pain for a year from how I landed.”
Another photo from that match was Lautaro Martínez celebrating his winning penalty. The group remembered how Lautaro was struggling with injuries during the tournament. “He was in bad shape,” they said, and Dibu recalled that Lautaro had to get his ankle treated before playing against Poland.
Alexis Mac Allister admitted, “After the Netherlands game, I really felt we had a chance to win the trophy.”
They also talked about other moments, like Montiel’s winning penalty in the final, Dibu Martínez kissing the Best Goalkeeper trophy, Lautaro’s tense moment with Dutch goalkeeper Noppert before taking his penalty, and what each of them felt during the celebrations.
“Two years after the final of our lives, five of those warriors come together to relive the eternal album,” said AFA’s official streaming channel. “A moment to remember forever,” it added, describing the chat where the players revealed untold stories of their journey to winning Argentina’s third World Cup.
Two years ago today, Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar.
The Argentina national team lifted the biggest prize in all of football on this day two years ago. In what is considered the greatest World Cup final of all time, the Argentina national team lifted the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni started the following eleven against France:
Emiliano Martínez; Tagliafico, Otamendi, Romero, Molina; De Paul, Enzo, Mac Allister; Messi, Álvarez, Di María
Ángel Di María won the first penalty of the match and Lionel Messi scored the first goal of the match, becoming the first player ever to score a goal in the group stages, the Round of 16, the quarter finals, the semi finals and the World Cup final.
Minutes laters, Argentina would score the goal of the World Cup. A team goal, it was Alexis Mac Allister who played the pass to Ángel Di María and he would score to give Argentina the 2-0 lead.
France would be awarded a penalty in the second half and Kylian Mbappé would score it and score 90 seconds later to draw France level. The match would go to extra time with the drama growing.
Lionel Messi would scored in extra time to give Argentina the 3-2 lead and France were awarded another penalty and Kylian Mbappe would take the penalty and score to draw France level. With seconds remaining in the match, the ball fell to Randal Kolo Muani but his effort was saved by Emiliano Martínez in what has become an iconic save.
Lautaro Martinez would get a chance seconds later but his header would go wide. Mbappé would get the last chance of the match, dribbling inside the penalty area but it was cleared by Paulo Dybala.
The match would go to penalty kicks, Kylian Mbappé would score first for France and Lionel Messi would roll the ball into the back of the net for his penalty kick. Kinglsey Coman would have his penalty kick saved by Emiliano Martínez.
Paulo Dybala would kick down the middle and score. France were up next and it was Aurélien Tchouaméni who would take the penalty.
Emiliano Martínez had the ball before the penalty and he threw it away from Tchouaméni and when Tchouaméni would take the penalty, he would kick it wide. Leandro Paredes took his penalty, kicking low with power and scoring.
Randal Kolo Muani would kick down the middle and Gonzalo Montiel was the last penalty kick taker. Montiel would go to his left and Hugo Lloris would go the opposite side and Argentina were crowned World Cup champions for a third time.
Nicolás González scored for Juventus in their 4-0 win vs. Cagliari.
González was back in the team for Juventus following a muscle injury. The Argentine was substituted into the match and scored on his return.
With Juventus leading 3-0, González received the ball in his own half, ran towards the Cagliari goalkeeper and chipped him from distance to give Juventus the 4-0 lead.
Emiliano Martínez has been included in The Best FIFA Men’s XI team.
Martínez was named as The Best Goalkeeper in the World and included in the Team of the Year. He is the only Argentine in the team with Lionel Messi not being included. Here is the FIFA Men’s best eleven:
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez Defenders: William Saliba, Rúben Dias, Antonio Rüdiger, Dani Carvajal Midfielders: Toni Kroos, Rodri, Jude Bellingham Forwards: Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, Lamine Yamal
