Messi once again scored to help Argentina secure a 5-0 victory against Zambia at home.

Many believe that this will be Lionel Messi's last international match at home, and he wasted no time in making his mark, providing the eighth assist in nine international matches at La Bombonera.

Just three minutes later, he passed to Julian Alvarez, who scored in the bottom left corner of the goal, beating the helpless Willard Mwanza, helping the team to secure their fifth consecutive victory. Álvarez should have provided an assist seven minutes later, but his pass following a clever one-two was blocked.

As expected of a team that had conceded three or more goals in every previous match against non-African teams in the last decade, Zambia barely reacted. And although the home team did not play particularly quickly, Messi doubled the lead for his team a minute before half-time, when Alexis Mac Allister made an excellent pass to him, and the legendary striker scored in the bottom right corner of the goal from close range.

Any faint hopes Zambia may have had of achieving a good result were completely extinguished just five minutes into the second half.

After seeing the previous shot fly over the crossbar, Albert Kangwanda committed a foul on Thiago Almada in the penalty area. Instead of taking the penalty as expected, Messi passed to Nicolás Otamendi, the captain, in a moment that could signify a power shift. Otamendi, a Benfica player, then calmly and confidently scored with a shot into the middle of the goal after a steady run-up.

With a 11th win in 13 matches almost guaranteed — along with Zambia extending their losing streak against South American opponents to five matches — Argentina's dominant performance continued, and the margin of victory was further extended in the 68th minute, despite Zambia being unable to prevent Argentina's fourth goal.

A smart combination between Valentin Barco and Almada helped Almada break into the penalty area and make a pass into the box, but the ball hit Dominic Chanda's head and went into the net as he tried to head it away.

Ultimately, it was a clash between seasoned professionals and young players, and merely a warm-up for the reigning world champions, who scored a fifth goal in the final minutes of stoppage time thanks to Barco. This result brings their clean sheet tally to 26 in 31 wins since lifting the World Cup in December 2022. Meanwhile, Zambia's incredible moment of glory against the South American giants will have to wait — they have conceded at least two goals in each of their last five friendly matches.