Argentina crushed Ecuador 3-0 on Saturday and will face Colombia in the Copa America semi-finals on Tuesday.
Lionel Messi first served Rodrigo De Paul (40) and Lautaro Martínez (84) who scored the first two goals at the Olympic Stadium in Goiania, Brazil, to end the match in style with an unstoppable free kick in added time. (90 + 3).
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Trained by … Argentinian Gustavo Alfaro, Ecuador offered little resistance to irresistible Albicélestes. Ecuadorian central defender Piero Hincapie saw the red card just before the end of the match (90 + 2).
Messi claimed his team had “achieved one of the goals“, that of reaching the top four teams in the tournament.
“It was one of our goals to be in the top four. We knew we were going to have a very tough opponent“in the semi-finals, he added.
At 34, Messi now sees more closely the possibility of revenge for three lost Copa America finals (in Venezuela-2007, Chile-2015 and United States-2016) and break a 28-year period without titles for his team.
Commenting on the game against Ecuador, the Argentine captain said: “the truth is it was a very difficult game“against a team”very hardworking, with very fast young players, physically strong“.
Messi also argued that Colombia is “a very tough team, with very good players, with experience, with very fast players who defend well“.
“I hope we can be in the final“, said the Argentine captain.
With four goals scored since the start of the competition Messi stands out at the top of the ranking of top scorers followed by a bunch of players with two goals each, including Neymar.
The semi-final against Colombia will be played on Tuesday at the Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasilia. Colombia qualified by beating Uruguay on penalties 4-2 (0-0) earlier today.
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