Di María scores twice as Rosario Central beats Estudiantes to win the Argentine Supercopa

Him again. Whenever Rosario Central needs a big name to step up in a final, Ángel Di María shows up to get the job done. The "Fideo" scored twice to hand his team the Argentine Supercopa with a 3-1 win over Estudiantes de La Plata at the Estadio Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero, on a night that ended up just as intense off the field as it was on it.

The match had a bit of everything. Soccer, goals, and in the closing stretch, the kind of extra spice that adds flavor, and tension, to any title decider: clashes between players and even red cards that left the final minutes with more nerves than soccer. But by the time that late chaos broke out, Central had already done the job.

Di María once again showed why, even at this stage of his career, he remains a difference maker in the biggest moments. His two goals were the foundation of the Rosario Central win, adding one more trophy to the club's cabinet in the Arroyito neighborhood.

Estudiantes, for its part, could not sustain the level it had shown in earlier rounds and ended up falling in a final that grew increasingly difficult once Rosario Central started to pull away on the scoreboard. The "Pincha" pulled one back, but it was not enough to change the story.

A final with a controversial ending

What was supposed to be a celebration for the winner ended with the heated atmosphere these kinds of deciders often leave behind. The red cards in the closing minutes confirmed that the tension of a final always takes its toll, and that not even an already decided result can keep tempers from flaring.

With this win, Rosario Central adds the Supercopa to its recent trophy haul, in a season in which the team has shown it can compete on equal footing in the biggest games of Argentine soccer. And with Di María at his best, any opponent knows that in a final, the "Fideo" can always show up.