Lionel Messi shone brightly in Argentina ‘s 6-0 victory over Bolivia in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America.

Lionel Messi had an excellent match in front of more than 80,000 home fans. Photo: AFA

Full time! Argentina won 6-0 against Bolivia, with Messi alone contributing to 5 goals (3 goals, 2 assists). Argentina solidified their top spot with 22 points, still 3 points ahead of Colombia.

The second half has 2 minutes of injury time.

Minute 86: Goal! Just 1 minute after the second goal, Messi completed his hat-trick. Still a combination of passing and then breaking through and finishing in the circle of the away team’s defenders. Argentina’s 6th goal, Messi’s 3rd.

Minute 85: Goal! Messi dribbled the ball with his left foot past the Bolivian defender, finished with his right foot from outside the penalty area, scoring to raise the score to 5-0.

Minute 82: Messi coordinated with Paredes and then broke through 3 Bolivian players, however, his shot missed the goal.

Minute 73: Argentina continues to make substitutions. Otamendi and Lautaro leave the field, Lisandro Martinez and Nico Paz take their places.

Argentina leads by 4 goals. Photo: AFA

Minute 70: Goal! Just a few minutes into the game, Almada appeared in time and scored after a cross from Nahuel Molina.

Minute 65: Argentina made 3 substitutions. Rodrigo de Paul, Alvarez and Alexis McAllister were taken off. Exequiel Palacios, Thiago Almada and Leandro Paredes entered the field.

Update : Brazil opened the scoring in the 37th minute of the match against Peru. Raphinha successfully converted the penalty kick.

Minute 58: Messi placed the ball skillfully but the Bolivian defender headed it away.

Right in the corner kick after that, Alvarez headed the ball close to the goal but it went over the bar.

Minute 52: After a few minutes of checking, the goal was not recognized.

Minute 49: Nicolas Otamendi headed the ball into the opponent’s net but the linesman signaled an offside. VAR checked.

08:10: Second half begins.

The first half is over. Although there is still a second half to go, victory and the 22nd point for Argentina after 10 matches can be confirmed soon.

Julian Alvarez scored the third goal for Argentina in the first half. Photo: AFA

Minute 45+3: A quick free kick from Messi put Alvarez in position to score the third goal for Argentina. Messi had 2 assists.

The first half has 2 minutes of injury time.

Minute 42: Goal! Bolivia’s formation pushed up to attack and lost the ball, Alvarez sent a through pass to Messi and despite being one-on-one with the goalkeeper, the 37-year-old superstar still assisted Lautaro Martinez to score, making it 2-0.

Minute 40: The away team could barely attack, Argentina controlled the ball 66%.

At the same time, the match between Brazil and Peru started – 15 minutes later than scheduled. Brazil is currently ranked 4th in the rankings with 13 points.

Minute 35: Another free kick for Messi, also from the same position. M10 shot better than before, but the away team’s goalkeeper flew to block it.

Minute 30: Messi was very careful with his ball placement before the free kick, however, his shot hit the wall.

Messi scored the 844th goal of his career. Photo: AFA

Minute 19: Goal! An unfortunate mistake by the Bolivian defender saw the ball intercepted, bounced towards Messi and the Inter Miami star could not miss that gift with a shot into the near corner.

Minute 16: Argentina has the first shot on target. Julian Alvarez coordinates with Messi and finishes with technique but still not difficult enough.

Minute 14: It took Bolivia nearly 15 minutes to get the ball into Argentina’s penalty area, but the attacker’s header was too weak.

Minute 10: The home team tries to attack with one-touch combinations in the middle before opening up the wings. But the away team is defending well.

Minute 5: Argentina quickly took control of the match right after the opening whistle. Good connection to circulate the ball widely.

07:03: The match begins.

Argentina’s starting lineup. Photo: El Lobi

Bolivia’s starting lineup. Photo: El Lobi

Pre-match information

Argentina ended September’s FIFA Days with a defeat (1-2 against Colombia) and started October’s FIFA Days with a draw (1-1 away to Venezuela). For the first time since June 2021, La Albiceleste have gone two consecutive matches without a win.

However, Lionel Messi and his teammates still firmly hold the leading position after the first leg of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America. Not only that, they also increased the point gap with Colombia and Uruguay when these two teams lost in the series of matches on October 11.

Meanwhile, the presence of the Bolivian team in 6th place after 9 matches is clearly a surprise. Since the 1994 World Cup, in the following qualifying rounds, people often saw their name at the bottom of the rankings.

More encouraging for Bolivia is that in this qualifying round, the 6th place team also has a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup, while the 7th place team plays in the play-off. Of course, the race will be fierce, with many things that can happen, but in a good mental state, Bolivia does not accept giving up early.

In the 20 previous meetings, Argentina have won 14, including nine at home. They have never lost at home to Bolivia, but have drawn twice in 2011.

The last time Bolivia beat Argentina was seven years ago, but that was at home in La Paz.