Lautaro Martinez’s late strike fires Argentina to record 16th Copa America title

Lautaro Martinez scored in the 111th minute as Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 to win the 2024 Copa America at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, USA. This is Argentina’s 16th title in South America’s premier international competition and they have thus overtaken Uruguay as the most successful team in its history. This is also Argentina’s second consecutive Copa America title, in addition to the 2022 World Cup title that they won in between the two.

Captain and talisman Lionel Messi had to be substituted off with a leg injury in the second half, which ended 0-0. Both teams exchanged blows in an often chaotic half an hour of extra-time, as was also the case for much of regular time. Inter Milan’s Martinez then got the ball from Giovanni Lo Celso after Leandro Paredes won it in midfield. Martinez put the shot right over the Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas and scored what turned out to be the winning goal.

The start of the match was delayed by well over an hour due to crowd trouble. Ticketless fans flooded through the gates, leading to stampede-like situations and chaotic scenes at various parts of the stadium.

Argentina dominated possession for large parts of a frantic first half of extra time but Colombia looked far more threatening. Messi’s night ended early in Miami when he emotionally exited the field in the 64th minute with an apparent leg injury. The 37-year-old appeared to suffer a noncontact injury while running full speed on the pitch as defending champ Argentina remained in a scoreless match against Colombia.

Messi had been dealing with a leg injury and discomfort through much of the tournament and missed Argentina’s group stage finale. He had one shot attempt in the first half Sunday.

Messi immediately looked toward the Argentina bench as he went to the ground. He remained down for several minutes as trainers came out. He was helped to his feet and immediately took his shoe off his right foot. As he walked off the field, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner took off his captains armband and threw his shoe to the ground in frustration. Messi then broke down in tears for a significant amount of time before getting back into the thick of things as the game went into extra time.