La Bombonera in Buenos Aires opened its doors for this World Cup Qualifier between Argentina and Paraguay. We got the player ratings.
Argentino received a visit from Paraguay in La Bombonera this evening for the third World Cup qualifier ahead of Qatar 2022. It was a perfect night for the locals to get a victory at Boca Juniors Stadium against a worthy adversary. However, the game started in Paraguay’s favor after an early penalty was awarded against Argentina. Angel Romero got taken down inside the box by Martinez Quarta, he took the shot and didn’t miss. With this initial advantage, the visitor had a chance to control the rest of the 90 minutes.
After half an hour of the game, an important modification took place after Palacios fell injured. Giovani Lo Celso came on the pitch to completely change Argentina’s fate throughout the game. The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was the most important player of the game for his side. He set Gonzalez up for the equalizer during a corner kick he scored with a potent header. All this happened right before half-time as we hoped for an even more interesting second half.
Messi gets a disallowed goal.
Lionel Messi didn’t appear until the second half, he wasn’t especially dominant throughout the whole game. The Barcelona star scored a beautiful goal after an impressive collective effort. However, VAR decided to disallow it due to a clear foul on Almiron during the build-up before the goal.
The problem is that this foul took the ref a few minutes to spot and it didn’t fit with the narrative. Argentina felt they truly got ahead and got quite mad at the final call. After this key moment in the match, the Albiceleste wasn’t able to get that second goal. Regardless of the final draw, this Argentina squad is still undefeated in the tournament with two wins and a draw.
Player ratings
Argentina: Armani (7), Otamendi (7), Martinez Quarta (5), Montiel (6), Paredes (7), Ocampos (7), De Paul (6), Palacios (6), Messi (7), Gonzalez (7), Lautaro (5).
Bench: Lo Celso (8), Di Maria (7), Alario (7), Rodriguez (6).
Paraguay: Silva (6), Gomez (6), Balbuena (6), Alonso (6), Rojas (6), Gimenez (7), Almiron (8), Lucena (7), Villasanti (6), Lezcano (7), Romero (8).
Bench: Morel (7), Perez (7), Sanabria (6), Rojas (5).
Feel free to make your pick on player’s ratings and performances using the widget below.
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