- Thursday, April 03, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
ARGENTINIAN football superstar and captain Lionel Messi won the maiden trophy with his national team on Saturday (10) when his teammate Angel Di Maria helped La Albicelestes beat arch-rivals Brazil 1-0 to lift their 15th Copa America trophy.
The victory in the title clash at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, also saw Argentina ending their 28-years wait for a major trophy and Brazil’s unbeaten home record that stretched by more than 2,500 days. Argentina, who have won the football world cup twice, last tasted success at a major tournament in 1993 when Gabriel Batistuta’s brace saw them beating Mexico in the final of the Copa held in Ecuador that year. Argentina last won their world cup in 1986 under the captaincy of Diego Maradona who passed away last November.
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“It’s a great title, especially for our people. The fans support the team unconditionally. I think they can identify with this team that never gives in,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.
Brazil, who have been world champions five times, failed to lift the trophy for the first time in six editions that they played at home. They were the defending champions who had beaten Argentina 2-0 in the semi-final of the 2019 edition.
Neymar still without a major trophy
While the Argentinian win ended 34-year-old Messi’s wait for the first national trophy, Brazil’s Neymar, five years younger to him and often compared to the current greats like Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, is still without a major title at an international level after having missed the Selecao’s win on home soil two years ago because of injury.
Argentina finished superior in a brutal and fractious game with Di Mario’s goal on 22 minutes. The 33-year-old winger ran into Rodrigo De Paul’s pass to beat Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson to give his team the victory.
“We fell short so many times, we dreamt so much about this, fought so hard,” said Di Maria, who was named man of the match.
“Many people said we wouldn’t manage it, we were criticized a lot. But we kept knocking at the door and kept going until today we knocked it down and entered,” he added.
Messi was announced the best player of the tournament and also the joint top scorer in the tournament with Colombia’s Luis Diaz with both having scored four goals.
Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was given the best goalkeeper award while Brazil received the fair play award.
