Spain thoroughly demolishes a Messi-less Argentina 6-1 side to finish the International break on a high in what was probably the best game of the fortnight.
Isco hit his first International hattrick for Spain, as well as goals from Diego Costa, Thiago and Iago Aspas were enough to demolish a hapless Argentina as they were again without star man, Lionel Messi. Argentina were far off from their performance against Italy just a few days ago, as they allowed Spain to take control of the game and thoroughly teach them a lesson in attack as well as defence.
Spain started the game brightly in front of a packed Wanda Metropolitano, and Diego Costa was on hand to put the Spaniards in front from a Marco Asensio through ball. Argentina goalkeeper, Sergio Romero was injured in a collision with Costa just before he scored the goal and was replaced by Willy Caballero.
Asensio, minutes later, got his second assist as his low cross found Isco waiting to score. 2-0 Spain. Argentine debutant, Maximiliano Meza then got into a good scoring position, but his shot went wide. Nicolas Otamendi, however, scored before the break to make it 2-1, bringing some hope in what was a below-par performance from the 2014 World Cup runners up.
If the first half was somewhat evenly matched, then the second half was a completely Spain dominated show. Diego Costa was replaced at the break by Iago Aspas, who duly provided the assist for Spain’s third goal scored by Isco.
If Isco seemed tired of scoring goals, he turned provider, as his brilliant pass found Aspas who then set the goal up for Thiago Alacantra to score Spain’s fourth, turning Argentina’s night from bad to worse. Ramos looked like he had scored on his 150th appearance for Spain, but the strike went disallowed for an apparent foul.
The fifth goal did come, as Iago Aspas scored a goal to add to his two assists. David de Gea’s long kick found the forward who slotted the ball past Caballero. Minutes later, Aspas was on hand again to nod the ball to Isco, for the Real Madrid playmaker to score his first Hattrick in Spain colours.
The Celta Vigo attacker did have a significant 45 minutes after coming on for Diego Costa, but the main highlight was Isco’s performance. Jorge Sampaoli has much work to do on this Argentina squad, who looked vulnerable in the absence of few critical players, especially the defence, despite the presence of first-choice stars who are likely to be the ones at the World Cup too.
