Coach Scaloni is committed to bringing Messi back to the Argentina national team's starting lineup, after the star player has fully recovered from injury and regained his fitness thanks to recent full training sessions.
Messi (middle) returned to the main competition and performed extremely impressively.
Messi played alongside Nicolas Gonzalez and Julian Alvarez in attack for the "Albiceleste", while the in-form star Lautaro Martinez was on the bench. In midfield, the trio of Enzo Fernandez, Mac Allister and Rodrigo De Paul remained.
Argentina only encountered a few obstacles against Peru, who played very hard at the beginning of the match. But then, they showed the spirit of world champions with 2 sharp counter-attacks, scoring 2 consecutive goals, both by Messi in the 32nd and 42nd minutes.
Messi's double was spectacular after extremely fast and accurate finishes in the penalty area, from passes created by Nicolas Gonzalez and Enzo Fernandez.
These two goals also helped Messi officially surpass his close friend Luis Suarez (Uruguay team), to become the player with the most goals in the history of the South American World Cup qualifiers with 31 goals compared to 29 goals.
Mac Allister contributed 1 assist for Messi to score
Messi (middle) shares joy with teammates
In the second half, Messi scored another goal for the Argentina team, but the referee denied it due to offside after checking VAR.
The victory over Peru helped Argentina maintain their impressive record in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America, winning all four matches, scoring seven goals and conceding none.
"Albiceleste" is leading the table with 12 absolute points. Next in line are Uruguay and Brazil with 7 points each. Venezuela shocked Chile with a score of 3-0, also with 7 points after 4 matches, but ranked 4th due to an inferior goal difference. Colombia and Ecuador drew 0-0, still holding 5th and 6th place with 6 and 4 points respectively. Paraguay beat Bolivia 1-0 to hold 7th place with 4 points (the position with a place in the intercontinental play-off).
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