Argentina have become the most successful team in the history of Copa America beating Columbia in the final 1-0. With this win, they have won the tournament title for the 16th time leaving behind Uruguay who have won 15 titles so far. The only goal in the final came in the extra time in the 112th minute Lautaro Martinez finding the nets and his effort was enough for Argentina to create history.
It wasn't an easy night for Argentina though as they had to make do without their talisman player Lionel Messi who got injured in the 38th minute and was eventually substituted out in the 66th minute. He took a heavy knock from Arias' challenge and was in extreme pain with even needing medical attention. He was limping but still decided to stay out in the middle for the team before going down again in the second half.
It was a forceful substitution for Argentina as their skipper, distraught with the injury, had to walk off the field with Nico Gonzalez replacing him on the field. Messi was literally in tears and had no option but to watch the action from the bench even as his troops played some excellent football.
Interestingly, it was Columbia who actually dominated the proceedings in the field with 56% possession and 19 shots at the goal but only four of them were on target. On the contrary, Argentina hit only 11 shots on the opposition goal and six were on target with one of them from Lautaro Martinez finding the nets in the 112th minute.
Earlier, it was a deadlock with no team being able to score the goal in 90 minutes and to break the deadlock, the final went into the extra time. It was enough as Martinez's brilliant goal helped them create the history. Notably, the only goalscorer of the match had come into the field of play as a substitute only in the 96th minute and he did his job 16 minutes later to hand Argentina its 16th Copa America title.
