A stunning compilation of Lionel Messi's appearance for Argentina against Uruguay has gone viral.
Despite Messi's brilliance on Friday, Argentina succumbed to Uruguay as goals from Ronald Araujo and Darwin Nunez secured a big World Cup qualifier victory.
People on social media felt Messi was lucky to avoid a red card after an elbow and throat grab incident.
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After he got away with any punishment, he treated fans to an outrageous performance as he completely ran the show.
He showed off his trademark dribbling and vision, piercing passes in the attacking third.
The Inter Miami superstar also dropped deep to influence the match
Uruguay knew the threat of Messi, who was hounded by groups of players whenever he got on the ball.
Unfortunately for Messi and Argentina fans, his mesmeric showing was ultimately in vain as the world champions suffered a 2-0 defeat.
But fans online raved about his outing at La Bombonera.
One X user wrote: "His pace might be gone but the way he uses his body and his dribbling skills at age 36 is unprecedented."
A second tweeted: "Messi still running games while Ronaldo is stat padding against workers in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg."
A third added: "Even at 36 one or two players don't mark Messi. Whenever he gets the ball, there are 4 or 5 or 6 people around him."
A Barcelona fan said: "He benches every attacker Barca currently employs... tears."
Another commented: "It’s over for Argentina when Messi retires."
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner will look to bounce back with Argentina when they resume their World Cup qualifying campaign against Brazil on Wednesday.
Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Football, Fan Reactions
Nasir Jabbar