Lionel Messi Finally has an International Trophy to his Name

This might or might not be recalled with some great significance, but the statement that Lionel Messi does not have an international trophy to his name no longer holds true.

The Superclassic of the Americas Cup came into existence in 2011, as a successor to the Roca Cup. Since then, Argentina and Brazil have been competing in a friendly match of sorts, but with a trophy involved.

Initially, the winner was decided over two legs- one each in the respective venues. But since 2014, it is being held at a neutral venue. Also, Messi did not participate during the initial seasons of the tournament owing to the rules which allowed only the players playing in the Brazilian and Argentine leagues. It was later changed in 2014, allowing players to come from Europe and participate in it.

The 2019 edition of the Cup took place on Friday in King Saud University Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Messi was coming back into the national side after serving a three month ban. The ban was issued by CONMEBOL for accusing American football’s ruling body of “corruption” after he was sent off in Copa America’s third-place play-off against Chile in July.

In the 13th minute, Messi, who has had a history of missing a few important penalties, missed another one. But thankfully for him, the save from Alison brought the ball back to the Barcelona superstar who just had to tap it in.

The penalty miss and the goal came shortly after Gabriel Jesus missed a penalty at the other end, rolling it wide.

The match eventually ended without any more goals and Argentina won the contest, handing Lionel Messi his first international trophy.

“It’s important to win and it is always nice to beat Brazil, for the rivalry, which feels a lot of late,” Messi was quoted as saying after the match. It’s good for everything that is to come, to continue growing while looking towards the qualifiers and the next Copa America (in 2020).”