Messi and Ronaldo……..Argentina and Portugal……….
This article titled “Lionel Messi eclipses Cristiano Ronaldo as Argentina beat Portugal” was written by Paul Doyle, for The Guardian on Thursday 10th February 2011 00.03 UTC
Lionel Messi once again prevailed in the duel of the world’s best two players as he converted an 89th-minute penalty to give Argentina a 2-1 win over Portugal in an entertaining and acrimonious friendly in Geneva.
Cristiano Ronaldo, eclipsed by the Argentinian when Barcelona demolished Real Madrid 5-0 in November, was handed the captaincy by Paulo Bento and looked to set to be overshadowed again when Messi threaded a wonderful ball through for Ángel di María to open the scoring for Argentina in the 14th minute.
However Portugal, who thumped the world champions Spain 4-0 in their last outing, came back strongly, with Ronaldo and Nani sparkling on the wings. Ronaldo showed expert skills in the 21st minute to draw the teams level, seizing on a Hugo Almeida flick-on before firing into the net from 10 yards. Thereafter the match was marked by thrilling attacking play and rugged scuffles, with Messi feeling particularly aggrieved by the treatment he was receiving from Raul Meireles of Liverpool.
Portugal started the second half the stronger but the momentum swung back in Argentina’s favour when Ronaldo and Nani were withdrawn after an hour. Argentina’s substitute Javier Pastore headed powerfully against the bar in the 85th minute and then, four minutes later Fábio Coentrão chopped down Manchester City’s Pablo Zabaleta in the area to present Messi with the chance to snatch victory. Naturally he did not waste the opportunity.
Carlos Tévez did not feature for Argentina, having been left out of the squad by the manager, Sergio Batista. This omission was initially interpreted as a favour to his club ahead of the Manchester derby. However it has emerged that the City striker was being punished for pulling out of the friendly against Brazil in November, apparently because of injury, and then lining up for his club against Fulham four days later.
“I think that Tévez’s absence is because of his attitude when he didn’t come to play [against Brazil] and shortly after he took the field for his club,” the Argentina FA president, Jorge Grondona, told Radio Pop in Buenos Aires. “That attitude didn’t go down well with the coaching staff; it was a lot easier to tell us that he didn’t want to come.”
In another of the night’s glamorous friendlies, France confirmed that their reconstruction under Laurent Blanc is on the right course, following up their emphatic win over England at Wembley in November by beating Brazil 1-0 in Paris.
Brazil seem less advanced in their rebuilding and became a rabble once the Lazio midfielder Hernanes was sent off in the 41st minute for a chest-high tackle on Karim Benzema.
The Real Madrid striker was at the heart of most of France’s attacks and could have scored several goals, being thwarted on three occasions by the goalkeeper Julio César. He had to settle for a solitary goal, which he scored from close range in the 54th minute after excellent work by Jeremy Menez.
In another rerun of a past World Cup final, Germany and Italy drew 1-1 in front of 60,000 fans in Dortmund. Germany dominated the first half and took the lead when Miroslav Klose hit his 59th international goal by putting the final touch on a fast and intricate move involving Mesut Ozil and Thomas Müller. Italy, who handed a first cap to the Brazil-born midfielder Thiago Motta, fought back in the second half, thanks largely to the introduction of Alberto Aquilani. Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi, the player for whom Tottenham Hotspur reportedly bid £35m in January, equalised in the 81st minute.
Manchester City’s David Silva struck an 86th-minute winner to give Spain a laboured victory over Colombia in Madrid. Wigan Athletic’s Hugo Rodallega had a glaring chance to equalise for the South Americans in the final minute but blasted over from close range.
The surprise of the night, other than Iran‘s 1-0 win over Russia, perhaps came in Malta, where England’s European Championship group rivals Switzerland were held to a 0-0 draw. The Swiss contributed to that result by missing two penalties.
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