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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Roy Keane and Gary Neville in agreement during furious rant over Angel Di Maria

The legendary former Manchester United duo of Roy Keane and Gary Neville did not hold back in their astonishingly-brutal assessment of Argentine international Angel Di Maria.

The pair were speaking at half-time while on punditry duty during ITV's coverage of Argentina's must-win World Cup group-stage clash against Mexico, with the first 45 minutes producing minimal quality from either side. Di Maria is one of the more senior attackers in the Albiceleste set-up, yet was anonymous for much of his side's 2-0 victory, which prompted a seething reaction from Neville and Keane.

It was Neville who perhaps delivered the most damning blow, as he blasted: "He is the biggest disappointment ever at Man United, him, he has no heart." Keane, perhaps uncharacteristically, was in no mood to disagree.

The Irishman added: "I'm not sure he has one [heart]. He'll break your heart. He gets everyone up wanting him to do something and he is guaranteed to give it away.

"He goes into bodies and he doesn't get his head up. He's had a great career, some great moves and has gone for a lot of money but watching him out there, I'd take him off... although you can guarantee he'll score now. His product and decision-making for an experienced player is so poor."

Keane managed to evade having any egg on his face for his review, as Di Maria did not go on to score and was in fact eventually hauled off with around 20 minutes left to play.

Angel Di Maria come in for some serious stick from Gary Neville and Roy Keane ((Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images))

HAVE YOUR SAY! Was the brutal review of Di Maria justified? Comment below.

The pair were hardly glowing in their assessment on Argentina as a collective either in the first half, with Neville continuing by claiming: "You start to think, 'Is this just what Argentina are?'. I know they had a great run coming into the tournament but you watch a game and a half and you don't see anything there.

"There is no pattern of play, no rhythm in what they are trying to do. It is massive from the coach to drop five players after game one and it looks like they are reeling from that."

He doubled down by implying there are very few if any Argentina players he'd willingly start for England.

Neville said: "England played really poorly last night but how many of those Argentinian players on paper would you swap for England players? What we've got in the talent Argentina haven't got."

Argentina did turn things around against Mexico, with Messi stepping up to break the deadlock before Enzo Fernandez lashed home a delightfully-curled effort to put the result beyond any doubt.

The win saw La Albiceleste get off the bottom of Group C and they still have their last-16 fate in their own hands.

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