Even the presence of talisman Lionel Messi couldn’t stop Colombia from beating Argentina 2-0 on the first day of Group B matches in the Copa America on Sunday (IST).
This is Colombia’s first win against Argentina in 12 years, as goals from Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata in the second-half helped the side get their 2-0 victory.
Martinez’s goal in the 70th minute at the Arena Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador and Zapata’s in the 86th put an end to an eight-match winning streak that Argentina had over Colombia in official matches.
Martinez launched a rocket shot on the left of Argentinian goalkeeper to give Colombia the lead and his teammate Zapata scored another goal for Colombia to seal the match off comfortably.
“This is not the way we wanted to begin,” a disappointed Messi said after the contest.
Though Argentina had more possession of the ball, they were the Colombians who made their chances count.
The last victory of the Colombians had been in 2007, with a 2-1 win in Bogota in a qualifying match for the World Cup in South Africa.
Messi, who failed to convert a couple of half-chances into a goal, said, “We’ll take it as a lesson for the upcoming games. We continue to depend on ourselves. It’s not easy to start with a loss, but if we beat Paraguay we go back to a comfortable situation.”
Argentina will face Paraguay on Thursday and will look to register their first win of the tournament.