Lionel Messi shines as Argentina beat Italy with three

Argentine football legend Lionel Messi stole the spotlight in the confrontation called "Finalisima" after he led his country's Copa America champions to victory over European Nations-crowned Italy 3-0 yesterday at Wembley Stadium in London.

He took turns scoring goals for Argentina, Lautaro Martinez (28), Angel Di Maria (45 + 1) and substitute Paulo Dybala (90 + 4).

Argentina, under the supervision of coach Lionel Scaloni, raised its series of matches without a loss to 32 in a row.

It is the fourth match between the two teams in the twenty-first century, where Argentina prevailed in all of them, which was overshadowed by a friendly nature, noting that the last confrontation in an official competition between the two teams dates back to the 1990 World Cup semi-final when “Albiceleste” won on penalties 4-3 after their tie 1- 1 in both normal and overtime.

And "Azzurri", led by coach Roberto Mancini, failed to shake off the disappointment of the failure to qualify for the World Cup Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, as he finished the current qualifiers behind Switzerland and then was eliminated from the semi-finals of the third track of the European supplement with a fatal fall in Palermo against North Macedonia (0-1).

This confrontation comes as part of a renewed memorandum of understanding between the European Union "Wifa" and its South American counterpart "CONMEBOL" until 2028, which will witness the establishment of two other versions.

Argentina had the right to represent CONMEBOL in this match, after it ended a 28-year wait to win a major championship, by winning the Copa America at the expense of hosts Brazil 1-0 last July.

Argentina achieved their first victory in the continental competition since 1993 and the 15th in its history, to tie Uruguay as the most winning team in the title.

This is not the first time that this match has been held between the European and South American champions, as it was held on two previous occasions in 1985 when France beat Uruguay, then Argentina, led by its late legend Diego Maradona, was crowned in the second edition at the expense of Denmark in 1993.

After an Italian first shot from Giacomo Rasbadori from 20 meters, it was saved by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinis in the 12th minute. Giorgio Chiellini in his last international match in his country's shirt, followed it with his foot in the net (28).

Before the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Di Maria doubled the score after an effort from Lautaro who started from the middle of the field to pass in the back of defender Chiellini a ball that reached the former French Paris Saint-Germain player, who “Loeb” turned over his former teammate, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (45 + 1) ).

Mancini began the second half by removing Chiellini and throwing Manuel Lazzari out of 3 substitutions, but Argentina remained the most dangerous thanks to two shots from Di Maria, Donnarumma's brilliance in stopping them (60 and 62), before Messi passed a cross inside the area that passed in front of everyone and wasted by Giovanni Lo Celso ( 64), so that the little "flea" begins his review by snatching the ball from an Italian player, passing more than half of the field, entering the area and hitting a ball that was found on the lookout for the Italian goalkeeper (65), and he returns the ball twice from outside the area (67 and 69).

With Lo Celso wasting a new opportunity (80), his replacement, Dybala, ended the "Tango Dancers" scoring festival after an attack led by Messi, reaching the ball to the former Juventus player, and he shot it with his left foot from outside the penalty area in the far corner in the fourth minute of overtime.

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