Lionel Messi scored twice to assist Argentina to a 3-0 win over Venezuela in his last World Cup qualifier at house on Wednesday.
Argentina have already certified for subsequent 12 months’s World Cup however put a dent in Venezuela’s hopes of a primary look on the main event to cap Messi’s time in Buenos Aires on a excessive.
Julian Alvarez nearly gave the hosts an early lead from Messi’s pullback, as he rifled a first-time effort on purpose from the sting of the field, however Rafael Romo was equal to it.
Moments later, Cristian Romero then had a back-post header dominated out for offside earlier than Messi discovered the breakthrough within the thirty ninth minute, beating Romo with a pleasant lob from the center of the field.
Argentina pushed for a second purpose after the break, seeing probabilities go to waste, as Thiago Almada, below no strain, sliced a volley effectively vast of the close to submit.
Lautaro Martinez finally gave the hosts a two-goal cushion within the 76th minute, stooping low to satisfy Nico Gonzalez’s low cross to ship a header in off the goalkeeper.
Messi received his second simply 4 minutes later; he didn’t want to interrupt stride as he rushed into the field, turning Almada’s low cross into the bottom-left nook first time. He was then denied a hat-trick on his send-off, with a beautiful chip over Romo dominated out for offside.
Argentina are nonetheless high of the qualifying group, with a 10-point lead over Brazil, however Venezuela stay seventh, now seven factors behind Paraguay, within the final computerized qualification spot.
Esperá, no te duermas sin emocionarte una vez más
Gracias por estar pic.twitter.com/5YbIvY0GP0
— Selección Argentina (@Argentina) September 5, 2025
Information Debrief: Messi steals the present
Argentina may have been decided to ship their talismanic captain off with a win after he confirmed he can be taking part in his final World Cup qualifier on house soil.
However Messi greater than performed his half too, main by instance, as he had seven of their 17 makes an attempt (4 on course), and contributed 0.75 to their anticipated targets (xG) tally of 1.6.
Venezuela, against this, didn’t get any of their 5 photographs on course (0.32 xG) and had been restricted to long-range efforts, with none of their photographs coming contained in the field.
Messi has scored eight targets in World Cup qualifying, greater than every other participant in South America, serving to to increase Argentina’s unbeaten streak to 6 matches.
