Talleres and Rosario Central draw 2-2 amid Di María-Sampaoli tension

A dramatic 2-2 draw unfolded between Talleres and Rosario Central, a match highlighted by a controversial penalty and a simmering personal feud between Rosario's star player Angel Di María and Talleres' coach Jorge Sampaoli.

Talleres initially led 2-0, but Rosario Central clawed back, with Di María scoring a goal that underscored his enduring skill, even after the team's recent elimination from the Copa Libertadores. The match was overshadowed by the palpable tension between Di María and Sampaoli, who did not acknowledge each other, a reflection of lingering animosity from their time together during the 2018 World Cup.

“

He told me things that weren't true, he told me I was Leo (Messi), me... and the rest, every time he came to Paris. He treated me as if I were one of the best, and after just one game he benched me, he cleaned me out as if nothing, without explanation.

Di María has previously spoken critically of Sampaoli's management during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He recounted feeling misled by Sampaoli, who he claimed initially treated him as a key player like Messi but then sidelined him without explanation. Di María expressed frustration over being left on the bench and not even being asked to warm up during a critical match against Croatia, only returning to play against Nigeria when the team faced potential disaster.

“

The next game against Croatia, when we were losing, I didn't even go out to warm up. In the third game, against Nigeria, I played again because it was obvious they were going to put in the oldest players, because disaster was coming. The same ones always end up dying.

Sampaoli, for his part, has alluded to the intense nervousness and disagreements within the squad after their opening draw against Iceland in the 2018 World Cup, suggesting a breakdown in communication between the coaching staff and players. This encounter marked the second time Di María and Sampaoli faced each other since that World Cup, following a 0-0 draw between Marseille and PSG in October 2021.

The match itself was described as a high-quality spectacle, but the 2-2 draw offered little benefit to either side. The performance of Rosario Central's goalkeeper, Ezequiel Unsain, was noted as a key factor in the game.

“

What happened there was that after the Iceland match, a lot of things happened. Disagreements, actually. There was a lot of nervousness, disbelief from the projection that was the coach to the player and from the players to the coach, because we couldn't find the reason why we hadn't beaten Iceland.