Benfica player Angel Di Maria ruled out the possibility of Argentina participating in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, as Javier Mascherano, coach of the Argentine U-20 national team, revealed on Tuesday.

“I also spoke to Ángel, mainly to ask him about the situation. He said he was grateful, but he had no intention of going to the Games, where he had already had the opportunity. What he said to me was very noble, and that perhaps he would rather give another boy the opportunity to live the experience he had.” Indeed, and to be lucky enough to win. “It is clear that we are ruling out Angel,” Mascherano said in statements to TyC Sports.

Therefore, Di Maria will not be one of the three potential players over the age of 23 in the Argentine Olympic team.

The 36-year-old was an Olympic football champion with Argentina at Beijing 2008 and was the scorer of the winning goal in the final against Nigeria, 1-0.

Mascherano also spoke about the possibility of Lionel Messi. “We have invited you to join us in the games. We had to talk again. It's not an easy situation, we'll talk about it in a moment, especially so he can think about it. “The invitation has been made.”