Right now, Angel Di Maria is the best football player on the planet

Angel Di Maria is currently the best player in the world. For good reason, Ronaldo and Messi sit atop the list of the top footballers in the world, but Di Maria is the workhorse that allowed both players to excel when the spotlight shone brightest.

At the World Cup in Brazil, Di Maria teamed up with Messi to propel Argentina into the knockout rounds. Di Maria scored the winner over Switzerland in the round of 16. Then he had the crucial touch to set up Argentina's match winner against Belgium in the quarterfinals. Shortly after the goal, Di Maria went down injured and his World Cup ended prematurely. Subsequently, Argentina's attack altogether failed.

Statistically speaking, Di Maria had more shots and shots on goal than Messi in Brazil. And despite playing nearly 300 fewer minutes than Messi, Di Maria managed only one fewer solo run into the penalty area than the Barcelona great. For Argentina's attack, Di Maria was as important – if not more important – than the little magician who constantly stole headlines and eventually won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

With Messi and without Di Maria, Argentina went scoreless for the final 297 minutes of the World Cup.

"Messi didn't play today but we had Di Maria. He's not among the top 15 players in the world; he's in the top 3," Lucas Biglia, a fellow Argentine international, was quoted as saying after Argentina demolished world champion Germany 4-2 in a rematch of the World Cup final on Wednesday.

In Dusseldorf, Messi was absent and Argentina scored four times with Di Maria heavily involved in all four goals. He provided a hat trick of assists before running behind the German defense and finishing with a masterful flick for Argentina's final goal. After such a performance, one cannot help but wonder how Argentina would have fared if Messi, not Di Maria, had gone down with an injury in the World Cup quarterfinals.

At the moment, referring to the midfielder from Rosario as "top 3" undersells his form, quality and ability.

As for Ronaldo, who was recently tagged as the best player in Europe by UEFA, he would likely not have celebrated La Decima if Di Maria was not on the pitch in Lisbon.