Messi equals Mascherano’s record in a tight Argentina victory

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 07:20• Yanick Vos • Last update: 07:40

Argentina has secured a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa América in the night from Monday to Tuesday. The team of national coach Lionel Scaloni won in the Estádio Nacional de Brasília with the smallest difference from Paraguay: 1-0. Lionel Messi played his 147th international match and thus equals record international Javier Mascherano. Next week Messi can take over the record when he comes into action in the final group match against Bolivia.

Scaloni had again cleared a starting spot for Nicolás Tagliafico against Paraguay. The Ajax defender was passed after the opening game with Chile against Uruguay in favor of Marcos Acuña, who in turn had to take a seat on the bench. Lisandro Martínez was still in the stands against Uruguay, but now got a place in the match selection. However, he remained on the bench for 90 minutes.

Just like in the previous group match against Uruguay, Messi showed his class at times. In the tenth minute he picked up the ball in his own half and ngel Di María cleared the right wing. The Paris Saint-Germain winger had an unparalleled through ball on Alejandro Gómez, who signed for the opening goal with a handy bounce. Eight minutes later, Messi was close to scoring from a free kick. However, his low and hard bet went just wide of Antony Silva’s goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Júnior Alonso could breathe a sigh of relief when his own goal was disallowed. In an earlier stage of the attack, Messi was offside when Di María shot on target. After the break, Paraguay pushed for the equalizer, but it didn’t come to that. As a result, Argentina comes on seven points from three matches and is already certain of a place in the next round.


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