Louis Van Gaal wants revenge with Argentina and responded to Di María, who had called him the worst coach of his career

Within hours of playing one of the most important games of his career as a DT, louis vangaal gave a show at the press conference before his duel Dutch national team against Argentina, for the quarterfinals of Qatar World Cup.

The veteran coach showed confidence and a lot of calm when he spoke about the duel, he referred to the encouragement of the Argentine public and responded with dignity when asked about a saying of angel of marywho had him as manager at Manchester United and described him as “the worst DT of his career”.

“My players are professional enough to take on this tournament. We’re talking about 40,000 Argentines in the stands against a thousand of ours. I think it’s a higher number and that makes me happy,” began the Dutchman.

Also present on the bench in 2014, when Sabella’s Argentina eliminated him on penalties from the semi-final of the World Cup in Brazil, Van Gaal acknowledged that this game has an extra flavor for him. “I really want to get rid of this bittersweet taste from 2014 in tomorrow’s match,” he confessed.

But the juiciest part of the press talk, which also involved team star Memphis Depay, came through Di María. What did Lucho say about Fideo?

“Di María is a very good footballer. He played for Manchester and had personal problems. They robbed him (at his home) and this affected his performance,” began the DT. And he added: “That he has called me the worst coach of his career, I can only say that he is one of the few to say it. It’s sad, I don’t like that he has declared it publicly. The coach makes the decisions. It is possible that he has made a bad decision.”

To conclude his answer and close the subject, Van Gaal made use of the complicity of Depay, seated next to him: “Here I have Memphis, who hasn’t played with me even at Manchester United, and now we’re kissing on the mouth”. Now I make decisions, they may not like things. And they don’t let me kiss on the mouth”, joked the DT, causing the smile of his director and everyone present in the room.

At 71 and having overcome a serious health issue, Van Gaal looks renewed, fresher and more motivated than ever. This version has led him to form one of the teams that has done better in Qatar: he is unbeaten, a privilege that only three other teams have, England, Morocco and Croatia.

“My vision has evolved. I was the manager of a very attacking Ajax team, I learned in Barcelona that you could never pursue that goal. It was then that I developed my vision for the 2014 World Cup and I think has come true, and today there are many teams that use. Now I have more patience than before. Memphis can talk about how the change in the weather has benefited him. My personality has not changed, I see football the same way, it is an approach different for each case and I always work the same way with the players. It changes depending on the player, because each one has its own personality. The bigger it is, the deal changes. Now I’m a more patient person than I was before”, he reflected.

The only part where DT was more reserved was when he was asked about Lionel Messi and how to guard the most off-balance player in the Argentina national team. “We won’t reveal our cards. We won’t talk about our tactics, it would be stupid to do that,” he agreed.

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