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Lautaro Martinez struck an extra-time winner as Argentina edged out Colombia 1-0 to win their second successive Copa America title, despite losing Lionel Messi to injury.
The Inter forward climbed off the bench to break Los Cafeteros’ hearts in the 112th minute in Miami, where kick-off had been delayed for 82 minutes due to crowd disruption outside the Hard Rock Stadium.
La Albiceleste headed into extra time without Messi, who left the field in tears in the 66th minute after sustaining an ankle injury.
Nevertheless, Lautaro Martinez stepped up in his skipper’s absence, slotting past Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas to deliver his nation’s record-breaking 16th Copa triumph.
Both sides, who had conceded a combined three goals en route to the final, demonstrated their attacking intent early on.
Julian Alvarez fired wide inside the opening 60 seconds, while Jhon Cordoba’s volley clipped the outside of the post six minutes later.
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.
Gonzalez went close again five minutes into the first period, with Vargas scrambling across to thwart him on the line.
A penalty shootout loomed but, with eight minutes remaining, two Argentina substitutes combined with Giovani Lo Celso feeding Lautaro Martinez, whose composed finish snatched a dramatic victory.
¡¡CAMPEONES OTRA VEZ!!
La Copa se queda en casapic.twitter.com/IrlUCApOCr
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