BEIJING, June 15 (BNA): Lionel Messi delighted Argentina fans in Beijing when he scored the fastest goal of his international career after 79 seconds as the world champions beat Australia 2-0 in a friendly match at the bustling Workers’ Stadium on Thursday. .
Fans grabbed their money immediately when Argentina won the ball in Australia’s second half and Enzo Fernandez found Messi who avoided two defenders before beating the keeper with a shot from outside the penalty area.
Messi, who last week confirmed his desire to move to the American Inter Miami, scored goals in seven consecutive matches for Argentina and Messi showed no signs of slowing down before his 36th birthday next week.
“We always enjoy being with the national team,” Messi said. “Playing was complicated by the heat and humidity, but away from everything we carried on with the same idea.”
Messi has been in the spotlight since his arrival in Beijing last week.
The Argentina captain has legions of fans in China where football is popular and fans often look a little further away from their teams given the poor state of the men’s national team.
The areas around the stadium and the hotel where Messi and his teammates are staying have been buzzing with people wearing fake Argentina shirts in recent days.
Hundreds line up outside the hotel each day, hoping to catch a glimpse of Messi leaving for training.
A sea of blue and white greeted the teams as they took to the pitch to an overwhelming majority of the 68,000-capable crowd for the Argentine colours.
“I can’t see any yellow shirts anywhere,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said before the match.
“I really hope that Lionel Messi gets a small percentage of the shirt sales because I’ve never seen so many Argentine number 10 shirts in my life!”
Argentina doubled their lead in the second half when Rodrigo de Paul sent an attractive cross into the penalty area and German substitute Pezzella found space between two defenders to head home a free kick.
Just before the corner, a fan wearing a Messi shirt ran onto the pitch and briefly hugged the bemused Argentine, avoiding several stumbling security personnel, and ran into the center circle and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Having taken advantage of the capacity of the crowd, he continued to outmaneuver and outmaneuver the stewards before returning to the Australia box where they eventually caught up to him and took him away.
Rial
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