Di Maria ‘always grateful to Mourinho’

Angel Di Maria has said that despite falling out with Jose Mourinho in the Coach’s last season at Real Madrid, he remains grateful to him.

Di Maria has spoken with Argentine radio and Mundo Deportivo reports that the midfielder has praised highly the current Madrid Coach, Carlo Ancelotti.

“The Coach benched me and I appreciate it,” Di Maria said.

“I returned to the team and I think everything is on track today. Things are going well here and I hope to continue in a good way for the World Cup.

“I always had a good relationship with Mourinho until the last year, which is when he began to fall out with most players.

“That’s normal when things go wrong but he brought me to Madrid and I’ll always be grateful.”

Madrid play the first-leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich in the coming week and it is not yet known if Cristiano Ronaldo will be fit for the game.

Di Maria was unable to shed any light on the availability of his colleague but stressed the importance of the fixture.

“Getting knocked out is as if you dropped the world,” the former Benfica man said.

“Reaching the final is what we all want. We’ve gone out before the final for the last three years so we know it’s hard. Hopefully this time we’ll do it.

“I don’t know if Cristiano will be fit for the first match, but hopefully, yes.

“No, it’s not the same without him. He’s a player who usually scores in the game, he’s a star, and the opponent knows it.”

Tags Angel Di Maria Jose Mourinho
La Liga - Club News