Because of his ill-fated season-long spell with Manchester United during the 2014-15 campaign, much of the build-up to Tuesday night’s Champions League last-16 tie at Old Trafford centred around Paris Saint-Germain’s Angel Di Maria.The Argentine winger, who flopped with the Red Devils following his £59.7 million move from Real Madrid, returned to Manchester with a point to prove.But it remained to be seen whether he would flourish on his first game back at the Theatre of Dreams, or shrink as he often did during his brief spell with the Premier League giants.Di Maria was predictably booed throughout the night by United’s supporters, who felt the South American could have done a lot more to succeed during his time at Old Trafford, and this hostile environment posed a further challenge for the 30-year-old.The biggest cheer of the first half came when Di Maria was sent flying off the pitch by his former United teammate Ashley Young. But, if anything, this sparked the Argentine into life.Di Maria proved to his doubters that he does possess bottle by taking the game by the scruff of the neck and providing two quick-fire assists for Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappe early in the second half.And because of the abuse he’d received during the previous 53 minutes, Di Maria made sure he gave some back to the United fans following Kimpembe’s goal.
Proving that he picked up a bit of English during his time living in Manchester, he was seen shouting “F*** off!” several times while also shouting the Spanish insult “puta”.Watch the footage here…
It's safe to say Di Maria has now burnt his bridges with the Man Utd fans - although they can have no complaints with his sweary reaction after the relentless stick they gave him on Tuesday night.
Di Maria ended up having the last laugh at Old Trafford and will now be desperate to inflict further misery on his former employers in the second leg on March 6 back at the Parc des Princes.
United now have a mountain to climb to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals, thanks in no small part to their former number seven.