What threatened to become an entertaining and well-played classic turned into a crude and boring duel. An Argentina-Brazil condemned to oblivion, only rescued by Vinicius’s debut as a starter in Canarinha, the only joy in a game in which there was no news of Messi, closer to his version at PSG than that he conquered the world Barça dress. La Canarinha takes a point from his visit to San Juan and the Argentine team already has its ticket to the World Cup in Qatar.

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Emiliano Martínez, Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero (Pezzella, min. 52), Otamendi, Marcos Acuña, Paredes (Lisandro Martínez, min. 45), De Paul, Giovani Lo Celso (Nicolás Domínguez, min. 85), Lautaro Martínez (Joaquin Correa, min. 45), Di María (Julián Álvarez, min. 74) and Messi

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Alisson, Danilo, Alex Sandro, Marquinhos, Eder Militao, Raphael (Antony, min. 68), Lucas Paquetá (Gerson, min. 78), Vinicius Junior, Fred, Fabinho and Matheus Cunha (Gabriel Jesus, min. 85)

Goals

Yellow cards Lucas Paquetá (min. 45), Paredes (min. 45), Cristian Romero (min. 49), Pezzella (min. 58), Fabinho (min. 72), Marcos Acuña (min. 75) and Antony (min. 75) )

Brazil landed Argentina without their best card, Neymar missed the classic with a muscle injury. But the Canarinha arrived with the tranquility of the sealed visa bound for Qatar. In the Albiceleste the opposite happened. While waiting to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, its captain, Lionel Messi, took his captain onto the pitch after overcoming his problem with the hamstrings in his left leg. But on the 10th, little shot, he was disconnected from the ball and Argentina suffered it.

Messi’s injury worried the Argentine national team, but above all it keeps PSG in suspense. Of the 16 games that the Parisian team has played this season, the Rosario has only participated in eight. He scored three goals, an average of 0.375 per game, the worst of his career (in Barcelona it was 0.86 compared to 0.53 in Albiceleste). Although in Paris they are waiting for their best version, Messi did not want to be left out of the duels against Uruguay and Brazil. He played for a while against Celeste (14 minutes) and without too much gasoline he appeared from the beginning in the duel against Canarinha in San Juan. The fierceness that Argentina showed in the wake of the duel contrasted with that of 10. La Albiceleste cornered Canarinha, but did not find Messi. Then Alisson didn’t flinch.

Dribbling the initial hot flash, Brazil found the spaces. Paquetá appeared, essentially Vinicius. The Madrid striker, however, his aim failed and the duel forgot, for a moment, the areas, and stagnated in the center of the field. Much friction. A lot of ritm. But nothing else. No news of Messi and Di María in the Albiceleste nor of Raphinha and Cunha in the Canarinha. On the other hand, Fabinho and De Paul stood out, symbols of intensity for Tite and Scaloni.

The Argentina coach did not wait too long to look at the bench. As soon as the second act began, Scaloni sent Joaquín Correa and Lisandro Martínez to the field instead of Lautaro Martínez and Leandro Paredes. Everything remained the same in the Albiceleste. The rhythm won the duel to the pause and in the classic one it was lost in the friction. It only broke the monotony Vinicius, as when he released a lambretta great to Molina. I mean, nothing had changed. The second half was a copy of the first.

Argentina, however, lost energy, also to its defense insurance, Romero (injured), and Brazil took advantage of it. The crossbar saved Scaloni’s boys after a good shot from Fred and then it was Draw Martínez who denied Vinicius the goal. Argentina tried to rebel. Messi had an outburst, but Alisson silenced him. Then, there was no time for more. Argentina and Brazil are canceled, especially boring, nothing that does not allow them to continue in command of the South American qualifiers.

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