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What's the story?
Lionel Messi has reacted to Argentina's loss against Colombia in their first Copa America 2019 fixture, claiming that there are lots of positives to take from the defeat.
In case you didn't know...
Colombia inflicted a crushing 2-0 defeat on Argentina, which was their first win against their rivals since 2007. It goes without saying that the match was a highly anticipated fixture of the tournament, considering both the teams are heavyweights in the tournament.
Goals from Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata sealed a much-needed victory for Colombia whereas the Albiceleste endured the worst possible start to the tournament. After a rather slow first half, the second half was filled with action and late drama as both of Colombia's goals came in the latter half of the match.
Messi and co. tried to open the scoring and they looked hungry for a win but the efficiency in the final third was missing. On the other hand, Martinez netted a sensational strike to open the scoring in the 72nd minute before Zapata sealed the win with another goal in the 86th minute of the game.
Also see : Copa America Standings, Barcelona Transfer News.
The heart of the matter
Despite their defeat, the Argentine maestro has claimed that there are a lot of positives to take from the match.
Speaking in the post-match conference, Messi said:
"There are positives to come out of this, we are ready to accept the challenge that we have. There is no time to complain, we have to look ahead, we have to raise our heads and continue, there’s still a lot of the tournament left."
“They kept the ball well but didn’t create clear opportunities, but when we took a step forwards in the second half they scored a goal. When we were playing at our best, they scored a great goal and it cost us.”
“We’ll take it as a lesson for the upcoming games. We continue to depend on ourselves. It’s not easy to start with a loss, but if we beat Paraguay we go back to a comfortable situation.”
What's next?
Argentina will face Paraguay on Thursday and will look to register their first win of the tournament.
