Through his social media, El Fideo questioned the statements of the president of Racing and defended Rosario Central and the current state of Argentine football.
The player's words appeared as a direct response to the accusations from Milito, who had claimed right after the match that "Argentine football is broken". In that sense, Di María raised the stakes: "Many of those who want to ‘change football’ can’t even manage their own club".
Another key point of the message was the historical tension between football from the interior and the centralized power in Buenos Aires. "The strongest journalism is in Buenos Aires, that’s why those from the interior have always had to stay silent. But we won’t stay silent anymore, the interior is growing and that hurts, that makes people uncomfortable and annoyed", he stated.
Additionally, indirectly referring to the complaints of the head of the Academy regarding the refereeing, the Fideo mentioned one of the most disputed plays of the match. "Véliz's goal was not offside", he asserted, regarding the disallowed goal by Alejo Véliz at the beginning of the second half after a VAR review.
In conclusion, he left a broader reflection on the context of Argentine football and the return of international figures: "Then they want the world champions to come to Argentina to play, for what? So they can just say they help us? That football is tainted?". And he closed with a powerful phrase: "Football is not tainted, now we are all equal and that bothers".
The debate over the questionable victory of Rosario Central over Racing by 2-1 in extra time in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Apertura Tournament did not end with the final whistle. After the strong statements from Diego Milito against the refereeing and the Argentine Football Association (AFA), the one who responded was Ángel Di María, a key player for the Canalla, with an explosive message on his social media.
The world champion did not shy away from the controversy and pointed directly at the criticisms that arose after the match: "How annoying it is that CENTRAL fights for everything, how annoying it is to see teams from the interior win. No one takes responsibility for why they lose, today it’s easier to hit Central than to take a look in the mirror and correct your own mistakes", he wrote.
In his defense, he also questioned the refereeing and media treatment: "No one said anything about how many times CENTRAL was harmed by refereeing decisions, but today the refereeing decisions are always wrong. Isn’t that crazy? Did we debate penalties so much before? Did we debate cards so much before? Hypocrites".
