Guillermo Maripan Embarrasses Lionel Messi With His Own Skill In Chile Vs Argentina Game

Lionel Messi made a goalscoring start to the Copa America but he was left looking a fool by Guillermo Maripan as Argentina failed to win.

Messi has never won a trophy with Argentina - aside from Olympic gold in 2008 - and his lack of international silverware is the one thing used against him most in the 'Greatest of all Time' debate.

On Monday night, Argentina kicked off their latest attempt to win the Copa America, the fourth edition of the competition since 2016, with a game against Chile.

Messi scored in the first half, with a brilliant free kick, but in the second half things didn't go according to plan for him, or the team.

Maripan blocked the Barcelona star's attempt at breaking into the box before getting past him with a move that the 33-year-old has used to embarrass many defenders in the past.

The six time Ballon d'Or winner shouldn't be too embarrassed mind, as Maripan was named in Ligue 1's Team of the Season, after his excellent campaign with Monaco, helping them get back into the Champions League.

And the 27-year-old even partially predicted his tackle on the Argentina superstar. In a recent interview, talking about marking Messi, the Chile defender said, "The best thing you can do against Messi is call a team-mate to help you or even better two teammates.

"Between the two or three of you, you try to get the ball off of him. But it's very difficult," not too difficult eh Guillermo?

As well as being done by the defender, Messi also saw his side concede an equaliser as Eduardo Vargas struck in the 57th minute.

Vargas celebrates his goal. Image: PA Images

The tournament was initially supposed to be held last year in Argentina and Colombia but had to be postponed due to Covid.

Those countries still couldn't host this summer, due to political and Covid issues, and instead it was moved to Brazil.

The hosts, and current champions, kicked off the tournament on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Venezuela and next face Peru on Friday.

Messi and his teammates have to dust themselves off from their draw before facing Uruguay on Saturday.

Topics: Chile, Football, Lionel Messi, Argentina, Copa America

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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