Late goal from Lionel Messi sees Argentina beat Brazil in Qatar
Argentina earned a narrow victory over Brazil in the teams' international friendly on Wednesday 17 November.
Inspired by the presence of AC Milan's Ronaldinho, it was Brazil who produced the most scoring chances before Lionel Messi's late solo goal gave Argentina the win over their South American rivals.
"It's always important to win and this victory is even more important because it's against a direct rival and it gives us confidence," Messi told reporters after the game. "My goal was important because
it enabled us to beat Brazil."
Javier Zanetti found himself in space on the right flank early in the first half. The Inter Milan captain cut inside the field on the edge of the Brazil box, but his left-footed strike towards the far
corner was comfortably collected by Victor Leandro Bagy.
Brazil got the closest to scoring in the first half as the team worked a short corner for David Luiz to tee up Daniel Alves in the 18th minute, the Barcelona full-back thumping a half-volley against the
crossbar that rebounded back into play.
All eyes on Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho came close with a piece of magic as the AC Milan striker back-heeled a loose ball towards the Argentinian goal after a corner kick, but Sergio Romero got down quickly to save.
At the other end, Victor showed quick reactions to deny Gonzalo Higuain's header and follow-up effort before the Real Madrid striker was judged to have been offside in the box.
As Argentina continued to pressure, a neat build-up found Messi in space and advancing towards the Brazil box, but the Barcelona striker's swerving effort hit the outside of the post.
Ronaldinho then found Nilmar on the left flank, but the widely courted striker failed with his delivery after skipping past a defender in the area.
Early in the second half, Ronaldinho's lively display showed no signs of slowing down as the striker whipped in a curling free kick that no Brazil player managed to get their head to in the box.
Pastore mishits before Messi scores
When Argentina did come forward, Sergio Batista's men failed to capitalize.
Shortly after Brazil's free kick, Javier Pastore was teed up on the edge of the box but his mishit strike failed to test Victor after it struck the arm of Thiago Silva with no penalty given.
Alves and Ronaldinho then both tried their luck from second-half free kicks, but only the latter managed to get his shot on target, and it was comfortably saved by Romero.
The game looked certain to end in a stalemate, but in the second minute of injury time Messi exchanged passes with Ezequiel Lavezzi in midfield before advancing to the edge of the box and hitting a shot
that crept between Silva's legs and into the right corner of the goal to earn his team the victory.
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