Ex-Sporting man on bench as Messi scores twice in Argentina farewell | OneFootball

The Argentina national team hosted and defeated (3-0) Venezuela, with a brace from Lionel Messi, who may have played his last game for the Albiceleste in his home country. Marcos Acuña, former Sporting player (who was recently in the spotlight in an international match for all the wrong reasons) was an unused substitute for Lionel Scaloni.

At the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, the home side controlled the pace of the game without much difficulty. After several dangerous chances, the opening goal came in the 39th minute, thanks to the Inter Miami footballer. The Albiceleste captain received the ball inside the box and chipped it over four opponents, making it 1-0.

In the second half, the pattern continued—much more Argentina than Venezuela—and the hosts stayed on top of the match, with several approaches to the opposing goal. In the 76th minute, Lautaro Martínez found himself unmarked in the box and headed the ball into the back of the net.

Four minutes later, Lionel Messi appeared in a scoring position and finished with a low shot, setting the final score at 3-0. As the clear winner of the South American qualifying phase for next year's World Cup, with 38 points, Argentina now faces a trip to Ecuador in the early hours of next Thursday, in the last round of the series.

As for Marcos Acuña – valued at 2 million euros – he played for Sporting from 2017 to 2020, making 135 appearances, scoring a total of nine goals and providing 25 assists. For the Alvalade club, before moving to Sevilla for 11 million euros, the defender won two League Cups and one Portuguese Cup. He currently plays for River Plate.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.