July 04, (THEWILL) – As it often happens with his team performances for Barcelona, Argentine’s “Little Magician” Lionel Messi was at the heart of nearly every movement forward in their 3-nil victory against Ecuador at the quarter-finals of the Copa America with two assists and a typical Messi free-kick goal.
The Masterclass display from the Barcelona genius was the product of a free-flowing team game that saw a more fluid blending of the advantages of having elite football stars with individual talents play as a unit. Then, there was Messi tying up the loose ends with defense-splitting passes.
With the match definitely beyond the reach of the Ecuadorians as a contest, Messi plopped the cream on top of the scoreline with one of his statement front-of-the-box free kicks that beat the wall in front of the goal and gave Hernan Ismael Galindez, in the Ecuador goal, no chance.
The free-kick goal brought up the tally for Argentina’s leading goalscorer to 76 leaving him a single goal away from the record of Brazilian football legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, popularly known as Pelé. He could have had two goals in the game but he shot Argentina’s first attempt against the upright.
Instead, it was Rodrigo de Paul that broke the deadlock at the Olimpico Stadium in Goiania in the 39th minute. He displayed calm composure to control a cross defense pass from Messi before beating two defenders scrambling to cover for the goalkeeper, who had rushed off his line to break the intruding Argentina attack.
The Argentines rebuffed several Ecuadorian attacks and Emiliano Martinez did well to keep them from scoring in the Barcelona goal before Lautaro Martinez added the second in the 84th with a blast from close range, helped again with a second Messi assist of the fixture.
It was left for Barca’s iconic number 10 to wrap up the scoring for himself in the final moments of the quarter-final. The referee, Wilton Sampaio, after consulting with the video assistant referee (VAR) awarded Piero Hincapie a straight red card for an Angel di Maria infringement in front of the box and a free-kick to Argentina in Messi’s favourite spot.
Facing the wall of Ecuador’s players but looking intently at the positioning of the Argentine players by the wall and the stance of Galindez, Messi fired in a curler that stumped the wall and beat the keeper for Argentina’s final goal. It was Messi’s fourth of the Copa.
On Tuesday, they will battle Colombia at the Mané Garrincha Stadium in one of the semi-finals, after Colombia overcame Uruguay on penalties in their own quarter-final tie. The other semi-finals fixture will have defending champions Brazil lock horns with Peru for a chance at the final.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
