October 18, (THEWILL) – Lionel Messi demonstrated he is back to full fitness after netting both goals in Argentina’s 2-0 triumph over Peru in their 2026 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
Messi, who was selected despite having recently been sidelined with a muscle issue, came on as a substitute in last Thursday’s 1-0 victory against Paraguay but started this match in Lima.
The 36-year-old put the world champions ahead in the 32nd minute with a superb strike following an assist from Nicolas Gonzalez and made it 2-0 10 minutes later with a fierce finish from Enzo Fernandez’s pass. He was denied a hat-trick in the second half after a goal was disallowed for offside following a VAR assessment.
In other qualifiers on Tuesday, Uruguay beat Brazil 2-0 with Neymar forced to exit after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury. Venezuela cruised past Chile 3-0, Paraguay beat Bolivia 1-0 and Ecuador drew 0-0 with Colombia.
Argentina, who remain top of the CONMEBOL region standings, will host Uruguay on 16 November before facing Brazil five days later. Peru take on Bolivia and Venezuela in the next round of qualifiers.
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.
