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Angel Di Maria jokes that ex-Madrid teammates congratulated him after Barca beatdown

Published Feb. 15, 2017 12:52 p.m. ET

Alex Dowd

Tuesday couldn't have gone much better for Angel Di Maria. The Paris St. Germain winger played a starring role in his team's dismantling of mighty Barcelona in the Champions League and it just to happened to take place on his birthday.

If Di Maria's birthday wish was to thrash Barcelona in the round of 16, it certainly came true. With a brace on the day, he scored two gorgeous goals to put Barcelona to the sword. Given Barcelona rarely lose, and even more rarely lose by that kind of scoreline, there's a measure of schadenfreude non-Barcelona devotees feel.

Especially those non-Barcelona fans that reside in Madrid. And Di Maria, a former Real Madrid player himself, is acutely aware of this feeling. "My friends in Madrid have already congratulated me," Di Maria sarcastically said via Mundo Deportivo.

The Argentine Maria had to live through Barcelona's 5-0 hammering of Real Madrid back in 2010, and intimated that Tuesday's win served as a dollop of payback. So, maybe a few former teammates really did call Di Maria or maybe he was joking. At the very least, they could have called to wish him happy birthday.

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