Argentina 6-0 Burkina Faso without Messi, and his farewell is next

Argentina scored five of their six goals inside 35 minutes and added the last just after half-time, beating Burkina Faso 6-0 at the Estadio Monumental on Saturday night in Argentina's last match before Lionel Messi's farewell. 12

Burkina Faso's squad reached Buenos Aires only hours before kick-off, after the charter flight bringing the team from Morocco was cancelled and some players chose to stay behind. The Monumental applauded the visitors when they came out. 34

Messi has been in Rosario since Friday, and his only match of this international window is Tuesday's friendly against Benin, the final appearance of a 21-year international career that has produced 125 goals for Argentina. 5

Lautaro Martínez opened the scoring in the third minute. Agustín Giay was brought down in the area by Moumouni Diallo, Burkina Faso's goalkeeper Razak Guira saved Martínez's penalty, and Martínez put away the rebound with his left foot. 6

Diallo's night got worse: on eight minutes he turned Julián Álvarez's shot into his own net. 6 Gianluca Prestianni scored the third on 12 minutes with his first goal for Argentina, and Nicolás Paz made it four on 34 minutes from Alexis Mac Allister's pass. 16 Julián Álvarez added the fifth a minute later, his first Argentina goal since the 2026 World Cup quarter-final against Switzerland, and Franco Mastantuono, who came on at half-time, scored the sixth on 56 minutes from a pass by Martínez. 17

Argentina finished with 75% of the ball, 25 shots to Burkina Faso's three and 14 of them on target; Guira made nine saves. 2

The opening goal was Martínez's 42nd for Argentina and drew him level with Sergio Agüero as the country's third-highest scorer. Gabriel Batistuta, on 54, is next on the list, and Messi leads it with 125. 7

Argentina's coach, Lionel Scaloni, changed five players at half-time and kept rotating from there. Matías Soulé and Tomás Palacios took their first Argentina caps at the break, and Santiago Castro, a Roma forward, followed in the second half. Leonel Flores, 19, came on fewer than 24 hours after scoring twice for Boca Juniors against Unión. 168

Argentina started with Emiliano Martínez in goal and Agustín Giay, captain Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez and Facundo Medina in defence. Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister played as the two central midfielders, with Nicolás Paz and Gianluca Prestianni wide and Julián Álvarez partnering Lautaro Martínez up front. 1

Burkina Faso's starting team was Razak Guira, Donatien Bama, Moumouni Diallo, Cyrille Dao, Bachirou Yaméogo, Nasser Ouattara, Franck Alain Kanté, Chec Bebel Doumbia, Hassamadou Ouédraogo, Jack Diarrá and Dylan Kam. 1

Burkina Faso's problems began on Sept. 30, when the players were already at the airport: the charter flight had a technical fault, and after inspections and delays the airline cancelled it and ended its contract. 3

A replacement had to be found at short notice. The new schedule left the squad little time to prepare in Buenos Aires, and some players pulled out of the trip; the delegation was completed with under-23 players who travelled to Casablanca to join the group. 3

The flight lasted more than 11 hours. The charter landed in Buenos Aires at about 15:30 local time, five hours before kick-off and 02:30 on Sunday in Shanghai, and the squad went from the airport to the Monumental. 3

Benin's squad is already in Argentina; its players watched Independiente against Instituto in Avellaneda on Friday. 3

The AFA said the aim of Tuesday's match is to ensure that "the best player in the world gets the home send-off he truly deserves". 5 Several members of the 2022 World Cup-winning squad will be at the Monumental. 5

Disney released the first teaser for "Messi and the Giants", an animated children's series, at San Diego Comic-Con Málaga on Friday. 9

Messi is an executive producer on the series, which follows Leo, a 12-year-old trapped in a world ruled by giants, where he must win football-like battles to get home. Sony Pictures Television and Sony Music Vision developed the show and Atlantis Animation made it. It premieres on Disney+ worldwide in summer 2027 and will also air on Disney Channel in the United States. 9