International Messi, Di Maria Stars As Argentina Beat Italy To Lift Finalissima Cup

Argentina defeated Italy in the Finalissima, a rematch between the European and South American champions, at Wembley. Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria shone.

Messi’s run and cross set up Lautaro Martinez for the opening goal, and Martinez then turned provider for Di Maria to add a second.

Substitute In injury time, Paulo Dybala completed a commanding victory.

Giorgio Chiellini, an Italian defender, played the first half of his 118th and last international match.

The match is the first in 29 years between the two continental champions.

It’s the third time the Artemio Franchi Cup has been held, with France defeating Uruguay in 1985 and Argentina defeating Denmark on penalties in 1993.

Argentina’s victory extends their remarkable run of results dating back to June 2019: they have gone undefeated in 32 games, winning their first Copa America title since 1993 and qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar with ease.

At Wembley, their team included a slew of top international talent, including a dynamic front three of Di Maria, Martinez, and Messi, who were a constant threat with their movement and interplay.

Di Maria and Messi, on the other hand, stood out, staging their own mini-competition with PSG teammate and Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in an increasingly one-sided encounter.
Di Maria was attempting to lob Donnarumma from close to midway within two minutes. He had scored a fantastic chip to follow up Martinez’s opening, which had been set up by a typically untouchable Messi run and cross.

Before Dybala blasted in low with the game’s final kick, Italy were simply grateful to their goalkeeper for a run of superb stops that kept the result acceptable.

Giovani Lo Celso and Rodrigo de Paul were a consistent source of energy and positivity behind Argentina’s front three, while At the back, Nicolas Otamendi and Cristian Romero supplied grit and deception when needed.

Argentina hasn’t won the World Cup in 36 years.

This team, by combining undoubted talent with a high work rate, appears to have a good chance of ending their three-year wait for a third worldwide title.

Wednesday’s game might have been a celebration for Italy, as they returned to the site of their Euro 2020 success and said goodbye to one of the game’s greatest defenders.

Instead, what began as a bittersweet event turned into a chastening experience.

The Azzurri are aware that they will have to wait at least four years to face premier non-European competition such as Argentina in a competitive match. They’ve also realised how large the gap between themselves and such sides is.

Their failure to qualify for the World Cup this year – their second in a row – is definitely a major setback for a country that had progressed so far under Roberto Mancini’s leadership and would have hoped to play well in Qatar.

They won the Euros for the second time in their history barely nine months ago, during which they had the longest unbeaten streak in international football – 37 games.

However, as North Macedonia’s stunning play-off defeat demonstrated, theirs is a team in desperate need of regeneration, a process that may be aided by being away from the demands of participating in a major tournament in the middle of another gruelling domestic season.

The procedure has already started. Roberto Mancini’s matchday squad included inexperienced 23-year-olds Alessandro Bastoni and Gianluca Scamacca, as well as 22-year-old attacker Giacomo Raspadori making his fourth start.

Chiellini’s hand has also been forced, as he left the international scene after a typically aggressive 45 minutes, bringing with him 118 caps of experience.

More innovations and experiments are on the way, but stern opponents in the form of Germany, Hungary, and England in the Nations League are also on the way.

The sky is the limit for Argentina; for Italy, things may get worse before they get better.


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