The Monumental decorated in light blue and white vibrated. Delirious with a recital by a genius, by a footballer that everyone wants to see there, live and direct. Argentina shines with the pace of its captain. Lionel Messiin phenomenon mode. It was a delightful display. Argentina, fresh off a loss to Colombia and a draw against Venezuela, found it Bolivia surprisingly, coming off a string of three consecutive victories. And he doesn’t care. He destroys it with that authority that usually characterizes him, but especially with Messi, who at the same time establishes a brutal connection with Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez, with those two center forwards that Lionel Scaloni decides to put together from scratch. Then, an explosive trident came out. Yes, all three can go together. And after a while they liquidated the story.
Leo returned to play in Buenos Aires after that injury knocked him out of the final doubleheader of the South American Qualifiers. And fly. First, he took advantage of the pressure and the dismissal of Lautaro Martínez in an imperfect start by Marcelo Suárez. In the 10th he faced the goalkeeper, who was waiting for a left foot shot at the far post, but the shot went to the first post. Inside.
The former Barça player then launched a sensational free kick that led to a better save from Guillermo Viscarra. The Bolivian goalkeeper will not forget him, because he reached out his left hand to grab him when he was going for a corner, because in the fall he also hit his face on the post.
With the best eleven (except for the absence of the suspended Emiliano Martínez, replaced again by Gerónimo Rulli), Argentina held the ball, controlled everything. It doesn’t have much depth, but it has Messi. And with Lautaro. And with Julian. And before the break there were two more goals, both with assists from Leo.
First, although he could have scored because he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, the number 10 preferred to serve 2-0 to the Inter scorer, after receiving a great pass from the Atlético de Madrid attacker. It was Lautaro’s 30th goal with the albiceleste in 68 games. He reached the 7th place in that ranking by none other than Angel Di María.
Moments later, the captain put Álvarez through to make it 3-0. He did it with a free kick implemented quickly, with exceptional precision, perfect for Julián to hit the diagonal from the left to the center, control it like a crack towards his best profile and solve from the right. This is the 11th goal in the national team of the Colchonero striker.
What happened in the second half was what was imagined: even after regulating and making some changes, Argentina maximized the victory. Enter Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios, Thiago Almada (he celebrated the fourth after a great collective construction) and Nicolás Paz made his debut (the 20-year-old Spanish-Argentine who plays as an offensive midfielder for Italian Como).
What Lionel Scaloni cannot change is Messi. The thing is Leo continues to play as if everything is zero to zero. I prefer genius. And in closing, it caused two more explosions. He scored the fifth, opening up until he found the right, low right shot. And he celebrated the sixth, facing the other direction, holding Nico Paz and looking for the best angle for the left shot, also in a corner. Hat-trick, but he’s about to make another three. 112 goals with Argentina! Second top scorer for national teams! Brutal!
TECHNICAL SHEET
6 – Argentina: Gerónimo Rulli; Nahuel Molina Lucero, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi (m.72, Lisandro Martínez) and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul (m.64, Exequiel Palacios), Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister (m.64, Leandro Paredes); Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez (m.72, Nicolás Paz) and Julián Álvarez (m.64, Thiago Almada).
0 – Bolivia: Guillermo Viscarra; Diego Medina, Luis Haquín, Marcelo Suárez, José Sagredo and Roberto Fernández (m.66, Luis Fernando Paz); Gabriel Villamil, Robson Matheus (m.78, Adalid Terrazas) and Ramiro Vaca; Miguel Terceros (m.66, Lucas Chávez) and Carmelo Algarañaz (m.78, Enzo Monteiro).
Objectives: 1-0, Lionel Messi (m. 19); 2-0, Lautaro Martínez (m. 43); 3-0, Julián Álvarez (m. 45+3); 4-0, Thiago Almada (m. 69); 5-0, Lionel Messi (m. 84); 6-0, Lionel Messi (m. 86)
Referee: Peruvian Kevin Ortega warns Carmelo Algañaraz.
Events: The match is valid for the tenth day of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, played at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti ‘Monumental’ Stadium, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez.
Messi and Argentina parade at the Monumental. At a steady pace, the leaders in unification, are walking towards the World Cup.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
