1-0: Messi, substitute, opponent in Argentina’s victory

He did not keep the glory of being trapped in Qatar. Argentina goes for more. For many others. He seems obsessed with continuing to grow and grow as a team, even without Lionel Messi. By genius watching from the sidelines throughout the match played at the heights of La Paz, he crushed Bolivia. Today, in the Monumental, without the wonder in the first 50 minutes of play and with 10 in the remaining time, he destroyed Paraguay. Only 1-0, but they deserved to score.

These South American Qualifiers, towards the 2026 World Cup, look like a walk for the albiceleste. Three chapters have passed, with three wins and a perfect score. It’s better to start, it’s impossible.

Messi, while he was on the bench, enjoyed watching his team. The thing is that without its captain, Argentina produced an overflowing production due to its search, the quality of its collective constructions and the level of most of its performers.

The Scaloni team is a real pleasure. He combined dynamics with intensity, precision and voracity. So it developed inner and outer play. And he also won the set-piece actions. That way, with a corner kick, very early, after three minutes, he broke the zero-zero with a volley from Nicolás Otamendi after a corner from Rodrigo De Paul.

Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister and De Paul made a brutal difference in midfield with precise touch and mobility. Without Messi, the two center-forwards who shine in Europe, Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez (from center to right, at Manchester City, inside, at Inter), play, and boy do they complement they each other. While Nahuel Molina on one side and Nicolás González on the other side penetrated the wings.

Paraguay, with the debut of Daniel Garnero as coach (instead of Guillermo Barros Schelotto), could not find the ball. It was a brutally dominated team, drawing a 5-4-1 that Argentina drilled mercilessly and deserved to score in the first half. Nico González, Lautaro, Julián, De Paul are close…

Paraguay did not scare Argentina in the first half. He did so at the start of the second, with a one-on-one with Ramón Sosa that Dibu Martínez deflected into the corner. After a while, Messi entered.

Leo came off an injury and agreed with Scaloni to play 40 minutes. So it is. Argentina, with less rhythm, with more control, continued to manage the situation. Lautaro throws it over the top. Nico González shoots on target. There were flashes of Messi, of course. The best in history came close to scoring twice, but the right post denied him: in an Olympic corner that was a beauty and in a free kick that the Paraguayan goalkeeper could only watch.

The best thing about Argentina is that it is an undisputed world champion. He was not satisfied with such an impact on the 2022 World Cup. He is more hungry for football, for success. It never stops. And it continues to evolve. This is becoming more and more a team, with or without Messi.

DATA SHEET

1 – Argentina: Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina Lucero, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul (m.91, Giovani Lo Celso), Enzo Fernández (m.78, Leandro Paredes), Alexis Mac Allister and Nicolás González (m.91, Lucas Ocampos), Julián Álvarez (m.52, Lionel Messi) and Lautaro Martinez
Instructor: Lionel Scaloni
0 – Paraguay: Carlos Coronel; Iván Ramírez (m.45, Robert Rojas), Fabián Balbuena, Gustavo Gómez, Junior Alonso (m.76, Héctor Villalba); Matías Espinoza, Álvaro Campuzano (m.70, Brian Ojeda), Richard Sánchez; Miguel Almirón (m.84, Gabriel Ávalos), Ramón Sosa and Adam Bareiro (m.70, Antonio Sanabria)
Coach: Daniel Garnero
Purpose: 1-0, Nicolás Otamendi (m. 3)
Referee: Brazilian Raphael Claus warned Enzo Fernández, Junior Alonso and Adam Bareiro
Incidents: Day three of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in a match played at the ‘Monumental’ Antonio Vespucio Liberti stadium in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez, before 87,115 spectators