Emmanuel Langelier, Media365: Published on Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 12:57 pm.
After returning to Benfica this summer, Angel Di Maria made a major contribution to the Portuguese Super Cup win against Porto (2-0).
He is back and has already proven himself decisive! 13 years after leaving for Real Madrid, Angel Di Maria returned to Benfica Lisbon this summer, sparking incredible excitement among Portuguese fans. The 2022 Argentine world champion signed a one-year contract at the beginning of July and fulfilled a valuable wish before returning to his country and retiring. Determined to make Benfica shine, the former Paris Saint-Germain player started strongly by delivering the Portuguese Super Cup for the Lisbon club against big rivals FC Porto on Wednesday evening in Aveiro.
Di Maria scores in the 61st minute
During an encounter that was always expected and which turned out to be very difficult – 12 yellow cards, the sending off of Pepe and Sergio Conceição, the Porto defender and coach – Angel Di Maria produced a remarkable comeback. In the 61st minute, he was the one who opened the scoring with a wonderful shot at the entrance to the opponent's penalty area. Then Croatian Peter Musa imitated him (68) to secure Benfica's victory. Positioned on the right side of coach Roger Schmidt's 4-2-3-1 formation, Di Maria, who spent three seasons at the club between 2007 and 2010, was named man of the match (which ended in 15 additional minutes of added time). time).
“The joy of winning the title that I missed with Benfica.”
“I already imagined the joy of winning the title that I missed with Benfica. I achieved that today in my first match. Give this joy to the fans who gave us strength in a match that was not easy. We played a lot in the first half and then we made the difference in the second half because we have high-quality players.” Benfica was crowned champion last season, beating Porto for the 38th time in its history, and will begin the tournament on Monday evening with a trip to Boavista.
