Argentina vanquished European power house Italy in a 3-0 dominator at Wembley in ‘Finalissima’ showdown. Albicelestes extended their unbeaten streak of 32 games to outclass Italy in front of 87,112 London crowd to put them among the strong contenders for the anticipated Qatar world cup 2022.
Lionel Messi’s run and cross assisted Lautaro Martinez’s first goal in the 28th minute, while Martinez turned provider for Angel Di Maria’s second in the added time of the first half. Substitute Paulo Dybala rounded off the beautiful victory in injury time assisted by superb Messi.
The veteran Italian skipper Georgio Chellini bid adieu to the national team with this defeat against Argentina as declared earlier. The South American champions displayed sublime control over the European champions.
Their forward line groped about in darkness with the absence of three top-tier strikers- Inzaghi, Immobile and Chiesa. Apart from them, the playmaker Marco Veratti of the Euro winning Italian team did not appear in finalissima game.
Early minutes of the play showed diligent attacks from Argentina. Di maria’s lob in just two minutes to the starting whistle missed the target, where messi’s strong footers deflected once in the freekick and later in an open play.
Italy tried luck in counter attacks until the 25th minute, when Lautaro Martinez gave Argentina a breakthrough with a ‘messi inspired’ goal. The young striker who plays for inter Milan just has to tap in the perfectly placed square ball from the skipper.
Di Maria doubled the score line just before the first half with a clinical finish past his PSG compeer Gigi Donnarumma. Lautaro, receiving the long ball from Emi, turned around and plunged it into the penalty box. Di Maria sent the ball home with a delicate chip over Donnarumma.
Late in the drama, Dybala came off from the bench to score Argentina’s third in the added extra time. Following the one-two play between Messi and Dybala in a counter attack, the latter lashed the ball into the bottom corner of the Italian post.
Azzuris who failed to qualify for the world cup underway, knew that it was their chance to begin the rebuilding process and to bid a proper farewell to their skipper, Georgio Chellini.
However, Argentina is grateful to the readiness and reach of the frontline including Messi, Di Maria, Lautaro, De Paul and Dybala together with the tenacity of Christian Romero and Otamendi in the back in outsmarting the Italian side.
The 22 year old Italian winger Giacomo Rapsadori along with Gianluca Scamacca, Alessandro Bastoni and Jorginho made a remarkable performance worth mentioning.
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