Goiania: Lionel Messi scored one and set up another two as Argentina cruised past Ecuador to the Copa America 2021 semifinals on Sunday. On the other hand, David Ospina saved two penalty attempts as Colombia won 4-2 on penalties over Uruguay.
The 34-year-old forward provided assists for Rodrigo de Paul after 41 minutes and Lautaro Martinez late on. He then curled in a free-kick in injury time after Piero Hincapie was sent off for a foul on Angel di Maria.
With 76 goals, Messi is now only one shy of Pele for the South American record. Rodrigo opened the scoring at the Olimpico Stadium in the 39th minute, tapping into an empty net. Martinez added the second in the 84th with a blast from close range before Messi’s free-kick from the edge of the box in the dying moments found the back of the net.
At Brasilia, Napoli goalkeeper Ospina dived low to his right to keep out Jose Gimenez’s spot-kick and then leaped to his left to palm away Matias Vina’s attempt at the Mane Garrincha stadium.
The match went to a shootout after a goalless 90 minutes in which neither team posed a clear attacking threat. With no extra-time played in South America’s major competitions, the match went straight to penalties after 90 minutes, paving the way for Ospina and his teammates to atone for their shootout defeat to Chile in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Copa America.
