Video: "You thief": a blatant insult to the referee: Di Maria imitates Messi and wins the Super Cup
Verón revolution: a fierce battle
Rosario Central beat Estudiantes de La Plata 3-1 at the Madre de Ciudades stadium to win the Supercopa Internacional in Argentina. The victory brought up the 14th title in the club's history: five first-division league titles and nine domestic cups.
Di María proved decisive with a brace, though controversial refereeing decisions ran through the game.
The fixture pitted the 2025 league leaders against the Copa de Campeones winners from the same year.
A chaotic finish followed. Players traded punches, clashes broke out, and Estudiantes president Juan Sebastián Verón rounded on referee Darío Herrera, who could not even blow the final whistle, according to the newspaper Marca.
The brilliance of Di María and Verón's revolution
The Spanish newspaper said the match began with great intensity from the very first second. After 53 seconds, Estudiantes went ahead through Alexis Castro.
It continued: "Despite the early goal and the injuries to Estudiantes players, one of them the Uruguayan Gabriel Neves who was taken to hospital by ambulance because of a wrist injury, Rosario Central managed to level thanks to the brilliance of Ángel Di María, who scored a superb goal from a free kick, thereby imitating the style of his friend Messi."
Di María completed the comeback before half-time from the penalty spot, his second of the night. The goal lit up the match. It also enraged the La Plata side, who fumed at the spot-kick awarded after a VAR review of a coming together between Leandro González Pírez and Enzo Copetti.
Verón wasted no time hitting back: "It's unbelievable how they are allowed to get away with it to this extent, to rob you. It's unjustifiable. Is this what makes us come here? A ridiculous farce."
This is where the war began: "the ball is all yours, you thief"
That was how it stayed until stoppage time in the second half. Fernando Muslera, the Estudiantes goalkeeper, tried a desperate shot. His attempt failed, and Julián Fernández raced clear on the counter to make it 3-1.
Marca continued: "And here the war began. A fierce confrontation, punctuated by shoving and punches between the players of the two teams, forced both sides to retreat quickly to the dressing rooms before the match resumed."
The report added: "Amid the chaos, the president of Estudiantes, Juan Sebastián 'La Brujita' Verón, came down onto the pitch and addressed the referee, saying: 'The whole ball is yours, you thief', reigniting the spark of their earlier dispute in 2015 following the controversy over the Argentine Football Association's recognition of Rosario Central's league title.
