AFPLa Albiceleste scraped by with a narrow 1-0 victory, with Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez connecting for the winner in the second half
In what has become a familiar story for Argentina, Lionel Messi bailed them out with a moment of brilliance as La Albiceleste defeated Peru 1-0 in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying Tuesday night.
The Inter Miami superstar beat three defenders to deliver an outrageous assist to Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez in the box, who scored with a stupendous overhead kick to secure all three points with his 55th-minute effort.
It was a brilliant response from Lionel Scaloni, coming off a disheartening defeat to Paraguay last Thursday, and as a result, Argentina remain first in the CONMEBOL WCQ standings with 25 points from 12 matches played. It wasn't the flashiest of showings, but their main man showed up when they needed him most after a bleak performance against La Albirroja last week.
After a quiet first half, La Albiceleste returned out of halftime with a newfound vigor, and they capitalized on it to find their winner 10 minutes into the second half. However, Peru remained resilient, locking down defensively and shutting out Argentina the rest of the way. Argentina's strong defense, powered by their workhorse midfield duo of Enzo Fernandez and Rodrigo De Paul, returned the favor to La Blanquirroja, not allowing them anywhere near their box, to secure the result.
Scaloni will be happy with the result, but he won't be thrilled with how close the affair ended up.
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