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).
Trained by … Argentinian Gustavo Alfaro, Ecuador offered little resistance against irresistible Albiceleste. Ecuadorian central defender Piero Hincapie saw the red card just before the end of the match (90 + 2).
Messi said his team had “achieved one of the goals” 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 difficult 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.
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Commenting on the match against Ecuador, the Argentine captain said: “the truth is that it was a very difficult match” against a team “very hardworking, with young players very fast, physically strong”.
Messi also argued that Colombia are “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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