Alexis Mac Allister rounded off his international break with an impressive goal for Argentina, but Darwin Nunez endured a rough night as a sub for Uruguay.
After getting one over Uruguay in their first World Cup qualifier of the month, Argentina hosted Brazil in another fiery encounter at the Estadio Mas Monumental.
Mac Allister started both games, and on Tuesday night grabbed the fourth goal of the game as Argentina thrashed their South American rivals 4-1.
It took Argentina just four minutes to open the scoring and it was striker Julian Alvarez – known to be admired within Liverpool’s transfer setup – who beat Alisson‘s stand-in Bento for 1-0.
Enzo Fernandez soon added another after Nahuel Molina’s cross was deflected into his path by Nottingham Forest defender Murillo.
The supremely talented Matheus Cunha pulled one back for Brazil out of nowhere, pouncing on Cristian Romero in possession and firing beyond Emi Martinez from outside the box.
But Mac Allister – playing in the No. 10 role – soon restored Argentina’s two-goal lead when he ran through the defence and met Fernandez’s deft ball to finish with a dinked effort on the volley.
Argentina’s 4-1 victory was sealed when Guiliano Simeone hammered in off the bar on a night that saw Vinicius Jr and Raphinha lose their heads.
Mac Allister played the full 90 minutes but still has a week to recover before the visit of Everton on April 2.
A difficult night for Nunez and Uruguay!
Luis Diaz was also in the goals on Tuesday night, dancing away from his marker and beating the goalkeeper after just 39 seconds in Colombia’s 2-2 draw with Paraguay.
The winger also assisted Jhon Duran’s goal for 2-0, but it ended in frustration for Colombia.
Mohamed Salah again played 90 minutes for Egypt as they sealed a close 1-0 win over Sierra Leone, while Darwin Nunez was restricted to a substitute role for Uruguay.
After Marcelo Bielsa rang the changes for a World Cup qualifier away to Bolivia he was forced to turn to Nunez, Federico Valverde and Facundo Pellistri at half-time in a game the hosts dominated.
Bolivia ended the game having 32 shots on goal to Uruguay’s 11, according to FotMob, hitting the target with seven of those to their visitors’ none.
But despite their dominance – with 66 percent possession – Bolivia were unable to land the killing blow and Uruguay held on for a 0-0 draw, with Nunez attempting two shots but neither hitting the target.
Stefan Bajcetic played 75 minutes in Spain U21s’ 3-1 friendly loss to Germany, but Lewis Koumas went unused again as Wales drew 1-1 with North Macedonia.
Rio Ngumoha scored two and assisted another in England U17s’ 5-0 thrashing of Northern Ireland and Josh Sonni-Lambie played 90 minutes as England U18s beat Portugal 1-0.
Trent Kone-Doherty was a late substitute in the Republic of Ireland U19s’ 1-0 loss to Germany.
