Angel Di Maria, the hero of the Copa America final for Argentina, spoke about winning the trophy and his friendship alongside Lionel Messi.

Di Maria scored the goal of his life against Brazil on July 10 to win the Copa America for Argentina. And following the final, Lionel Messi joined PSG and is now playing alongside him. Di Maria spoke it in in an interview with TyC Sports. Here’s what he had to say:

“In my career, I was missing the icing on the cake: Playing with Leo (Messi) at a club. I had several chances to go to Barca. It makes me happy to have him every day and to see what he does and not only when we are with the Argentina team.

In regards to his friendship with Lionel Messi:

“We are the first two who arrive to training, it’s true. Me first, I’m there just a few minutes before. After that he gets there and we prepare some mate.

“I always call him “Enano” (midget). At first no but when the friendship started, I started saying that. I think it’s like how he calls me Fide, I call him Enano, it was a while back and it will always remain that way.

“I treat him like another person, how he likes to be treated. He doesn’t like the show. That’s why he always hangs out with, the people with whom he has more of a relationship with, the one’s with whom he gets along with best, are the one’s who treat him equally and make him feel that way.

“Because if you treat him like what he is, an alien, you have him in that bubble which he doesn’t like. Because he likes to share moments, go out and have a BBQ, have some mate, have a good timne, laugh.

“We mess around and everything, in the press, they say that he is an alien because he is, he is the best in the world. But at the end of the day, for us, he’s Leo. He’s the midget and we tream him that way.”

He also spoke about Lionel Scaloni and when he was not being called to the Argentina national team:

“It was always very good and that’s why it was bad for me when I wasn’t called up. Because I was doing things well with my club, I deserved it. That was when I went out and spoke and he called me on the phone. We both started to cry.

“I told him I didn’t care being on the bench, I wanted to be there. I told him, if you want to try, try with others. But call me up, I want to be there.

“He knows that for me, the Argentina national team is unique, it’s everything for me.

“At noon, the day of the final he called to tell me he wanted to talk. To tell me that he didn’t know if I was going to start or be on the bench. To ask me how I felt. I told him the same thing I said to Sabella:

“You are the coach, if I have to play, I will play. If I end up having to be dragged, I end up dragged. And if I have to go to the bench, I’ll go to the bench as I have been doing now. Decide what you want.”

On winning the Copa America:

“I had to go through a lot of shit to get to it. Had I not won anything with Argentina, the joy would not have been complete.”

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke at a press conference on Wednesday.

Lionel Scaloni, the first coach to lead Argentina to a Copa America trophy since 1993, gave his first press conference ahead of an Argentina match as a champion. Scaloni commented on the team, winning the Copa America, the match against Venezuela and the fans.

Speaking at the press conference, here is what Scaloni had to say regarding the match against Venezuela on Thursday:

“In principle, I think the match tomorrow will be of the utmost difficulty. It’s a national team which needs points and is a good national team. One which has made it hard for Argentina to win in the last World Cup qualifiers. Logically, getting a positive result tomorrow opens the door differently for the next matches. It’s useless to think that we can get the 9 points without having passed the first match. The first match always has to be won, the way to take on the next matches would become much easier.

“I won’t confirm the team yet because we just had our first training session yesterday. We spoke with most of the players to see how they are physically. Not much will change from the last match which was the final of the Copa.

“It’s three matches in a few days. We also have to be careful with the yellow cards. In any case, we will always put out what we think is the best. We are going to train this afternoon. Honestly, the conditions were not ideal but we already suffered at the Copa and are used to it. The pitch for tomorrow is not that bad.”

In regards to the clubs not releasing players:

“Regarding the clubs, we never had a refusal. We spoke and we reached a conclusion that they had to come.”

Regarding the statement by Aston Villa that Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia would only be available for two of the three matches:

“We gave the list for the three matches and there was no doubt. The players are here for the three matches.”

About the World Cup qualifiers:

“Now a new challenge starts. Every national team wants to beat the champion. We have to take points and have a good qualifying campaign. It would be a mistake to think that the work is done. Every opponent is difficult, we have to try to do things in the best way possible because the level of difficulty will be at its highest.

“Coming to a national team is totally different than a club. We know that Lionel (Messi) is competing at a big club and that’s the most important thing.”

On winning the Copa America and having fans in attendance against Bolivia:

“It’s obvious that we brought joy to the people, that have needed it for some time. We are eternally thankful for their support. Unfortunately we were not able to celebrate because of what we are going through. We await the match against Bolivia with people in attendance and for them to see their idols as close as possible.

“I believe that the fans identify with this team because of how they defend the shirt. The players always give their maximum and I think that forges a mutual affection. The support from the people has always been felt. My way of being will not change on if we win or not. My image remains the same.

We became champions not long ago and now we have to go try and go back to being at that level. Had we not been champions, we would still go out and continued trying to be competitive. I’m left with the feeling that we are on the right path. We are proud of the way we work and the players feel identified with it.”

Copa America champions Argentina will play their first match since lifting the trophy in Brazil when they play against Venezuela on Thursday.

All 30 players are in Venezuela and with the players having already trained on Tuesday, some rumors have already started circulating regarding the eleven. As reported on Tuesday, both Cristian Romero and Leandro Paredes are suspended after having each received two yellow cards.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni will be without both players for Thursday’s match but according to several media outlets in Argentina, it would be German Pezzella replacing Cristian Romero with Guido Rodriguez in place of Leandro Paredes.

These would be two changes that we saw during the Copa America where Romero was unfit and Pezzella started in his place or when Scaloni preferred Guido over Paredes.

Lionel Scaloni has 11 players in the squad on a yellow card and one more for them and they would miss Argentina’s match against Brazil on Sunday. Here are the eleven players:

Gonzalo Montiel
German Pezzela
Nicolas Otamendi
Lucas Martinez Quarta
Nicolas Tagliafico
Rodrigo De Paul
Exequiel Palacios
Nicolas Dominguez
Gio Lo Celso
Nicolas Gonzalez
Lautaro Martinez

While at the moment there are rumors of a starting eleven, it would be only a guess as Scaloni has not yet tried an eleven in training.

If rumors are to be believed, this could be the eleven against Venezuela:

Emiliano Martinez; Tagliafico/Acuña, Otamendi, Pezzella, Montiel/Molina; Guido, De Paul, Lo Celso/Nicolas Gonzalez; Messi, Lautaro, Di Maria

Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes have landed and are with the Argentina national team.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni now has all 30 players at his disposal, following the arrival of the three PSG players. The first two players who arrived to Venezuela with the coaching staff were Franco Armani and Julian Alvarez. After that came the European based players who landed on Monday.

The Copa America champions will train on Tuesday before training once more on Wednesday prior to playing Venezuela on Thursday. Argentina will then play Brazil in Sao Paulo on Sunday before playing at home vs. Bolivia next Thursday.