Angel di Maria deserves bucketloads of praise but Lionel Messi can feel hard done by here.
The record-breaking Barcelona ace was beaten to the award of Argentina’s foreign-based player of the year by the Manchester United playmaker at an awards ceremony on Tuesday.
It’s very hard to argue against Angel di Maria deserving the Olimpia de Plata after he played out of his skin en route to Real Madrid’s Champions League victory in May before playing an instrumental part in Argentina’s journey to the World Cup final.
But he was up against Lionel Messi who has been making history this year, seemingly on a weekly basis.
It’s the first time since 2006 that Messi hasn’t gotten the nod for the prize and it came as something of a surprise as 2014 was the year in which the Barcelona superstar broke the records for the all time La Liga and Champions League goals.
Sergio Aguero could have been in with a shout himself after single-handedly guiding Manchester City to the Champions League knockout phase.
But enough about them lads because it’s di Maria’s award to enjoy and he didn’t have a bad year himself as his stellar performances for club and country secured him a €75million move to Manchester United.
Live it up Angel, we’re not taking your award away.