Revenge served cold

Dusseldorf (Germany): Argentina spoiled the party for world champions Germany by hammering the hosts 4-2 in an international friendly in Duesseldorf on Wednesday in a repeat of the World Cup final.Manchester United’s record British signing Angel Di Maria scored once and made goals for Sergio Aguero, Erik Lamela and Federico Fernandez as Argentina won their first game since losing to Germany in Brazil.

 

Andre Schuerrle and Mario Goetze replied but Germany were brought crashing down to earth by a ruthless Argentina display in what was Gerardo Martino’s first match in charge of the South Americans.

 

Martino, who filled the vacuum left when Alejandro Sabella declined the offer of a new contract after the World Cup, said the victory should not be over-hyped.“They were missing a lot of players and also had three players who retired,” said Martino, who left the Barcelona job after just one season at the end of the last campaign as they ended without a trophy.

“That’s not easy to try to find a new team. Di Maria was more prominent than he was in the World Cup,” he added.

 

His German counterpart Joachim Loew refuted suggestions that Argentina had avenged the defeat in the final.“It can’t be revenge. You can’t repeat the final. I can’t actually fault the team because they have never played like that together before,” said Loew.

 

Before kick-off the home fans got a chance to say a final farewell to Per Mertesacker, record goal scorer Miroslav Klose and World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm. Argentina’s team showed just four changes from the last time the sides met, with Javier Mascherano wearing the captain’s armband in place of absent Barcelona star Lionel Messi.