Agency :
Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, came off the bench to score a brace in his side’s 7-0 demolition over Hong Kong.
The victory was a much needed confidence boost after losing to arch-rivals Brazil 2-0 on Saturday in Beijing.
Things started off a bit slowly for the visitors as it took them 14 minutes to register their first shot on target but Javier Pastore knocked the ball straight to the goalkeeper.
Five minutes later Argentina broke the deadlock and made it 1-0 as the Hong Kong goalkeeper failed to clear a ball properly after he palmed it into the centre of the box, which allowed Ever Banega to volley the ball into the back of the net.
As the first-half progressed Argentina got a lot more dangerous and definitely started to find their stride. Gonzalo Higuain made it 2-0 after 42 minutes as he managed to score off his head thanks to cross from left-back Leonel Vangioni.
Argentina quickly made it 3-0 two minutes later as Nicolas Gaitan collected a high ball into the box and then fired a shot inside the near post.
It was plain sailing for Argentina up unitl half-time, despite Gerardo Martino resting the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria.
Things started off a bit better for Hong Kong after the break and they enjoyed a good spell of posession for a few minutes, but then an error in midield allowed a ball to get played through to Gaitan who elimanted the goalkeepr to allow Higuain to get his second goal.
The 60th minute saw the introduction of Lionel Messi for Pastore and it only took six minutes for the little maestro to grab his first of the night, after lofting the ball over the goalkeeper from close range.
The goals didn’t end there for Martino’s men as Gaitan got his second in the 72nd minute thanks to some brilliant play by Messi down the right hand side of the pitch.
The Barcelona front man then stole the show as he scored his second. Messi received an angled ball down the inside right and then went around two defenders to place the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.
The 7-0 win is Argentina’s second victory under Martino after they beat world champions, Germany, 4-2 and lost to 2-0 Brazil.
