Image Courtesy: Twitter/SofaScoreINT
Lionel Messi scored a staggering free kick in the 33rd minute of the first half which gave Argentina a lead, but his former Barcelona teammate from Chile attained an equaliser through Eduardo Vargas’ rebound header, which got the job done for them after Arturo Vidal missed the penalty and the Copa America clash ended 1-1 draw.
Late Argentina legend Diego Maradona was honoured before the match kickoff.
Gorgeous tribute to Maradona before Argentina vs Chile at #CopaAmerica pic.twitter.com/ff7KCQ2T1m
— Goal (@goal) June 14, 2021
Messi opens up the tournament with a stunning free-kick into the corner of Claudio Bravo’s net from 25 metres but Chile equalised within 13 minutes of the second half into the game. He continuously created chances throughout the match which wasn’t enough while his teammates couldn’t turn those opportunities into a favourable finishing. Meanwhile Chile improved their performance in the second half.
“We wanted to win today but we need to focus on our next match against Uruguay which is going to be complicated as well. We are missing tranquility, the penalty changed the game,” said Messi about the game.
Captain Argentina’s free-kick was his first non penalty goal with the country since 2018 World Cup against Nigeria. With this goal, he has now reached 57 free-kick goals in all the competitions levelled up with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The outcome of the match extended Argentina’s unbeaten run to 14 under coach Lionel Scaloni.
“Lionel Messi makes you change your formation. We thank god that we could secure a draw. It was a tough match, we tried to keep the order,” said Vidal.
The teams will be back in action on Friday. Chile will be facing Bolivia and Argentina to play Uruguay the same day.