Di Maria blames Messi’s absence for Nigeria’s 4-2 defeat of Argentina

Paris Saint-Germain winger, Angel Di María says the reason Argentina lost to Super Eagles in the international friendly last November was because of the absence of Barcelona star, Lionel Messi.

Nigeria recovered from a two-goal deficit to thrash Argentina 4-2, with Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Brian Idowu finding the net for the three-time African champions in Krasnodar.

Di María believes Messi’s absence was the main reason the Southern Americans were humiliated by Nigeria.

”I love playing with him (Messi), the best thing that can happen to a player is to play with the best and with the aliens, you value playing with him,” said Angel Di María to Fox Sports Radio.

”Everybody has a good time in the clubs and in the national team when Leo is not there all of us want to assume that role, but being so used to playing with him it is difficult when he is not in.

”We all try to do our best, good first half against Nigeria and then the game got away, it got out of hand but at times we do things right”, he said.

Di María has faced the Super Eagles four times in his career, including the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.