Argentina 1-0 Colombia (aet): Lautaro Martinez’s extra-time strike seals Copa America crown
Argentina’s Copa America title hopes hung in the balance until the 112th minute, when a substitute broke Colombian hearts.
Lautaro Martinez scored an extra-time winner as Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 to win a record 16th Copa America title at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.
A poor match which had been marred by security and crowd issues, forcing an 82-minute delay, was decided by a quality finish from Martinez – his fifth goal of the tournament.
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Emiliano Martinez held onto a Carlos Cuesta header and, at the other end, Alvaraz inadvertently took the sting out of Messi’s goalbound effort on 20 minutes.
As the final remained in the balance, Jefferson Lerma fired narrowly wide from distance, while Nicolas Tagliafico headed over from a Messi free-kick just before the break.
Colombia created the better opportunities in the early stages of the second half. Santiago Arias drilled wide and Davinson Sanchez headed over from a James Rodriguez corner.
At the other end, Vargas pushed away Angel Di Maria’s effort from a tight angle, before a distraught Messi was forced off injured with a quarter of regulation time remaining.
Messi’s replacement Nicolas Gonzalez thought he had broken the deadlock in the 75th minute, but Argentina were denied by the offside flag as the game headed for extra time.