An onslaught of first-half goals helped Argentina hammer Burkina Faso 7-0 in a friendly at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires - their 16th win from their last 17 games (L1).
Match Report
Meeting for the first time, both sides came into this encounter on the back of a win and a clean sheet. However, with 60 places separating them in the FIFA rankings, Argentina were the overwhelming favourites. After a blistering start for the hosts, it took just four minutes for La Albiceleste to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty after Moumouni Diallo was shown a yellow card for bringing down Agustín Giay in the box. Lautaro Martinez had his initial effort saved by Abdoul Guira, who dived to his bottom-left, but Martinez made no mistake with the follow-up.
Diallo’s night was about to get even worse just four minutes later, when, after trying to block a shot, he deflected the ball into his own net to make it 2-0 to the hosts. Even with just eight minutes gone, the contest looked as good as over, and it was to be 3-0 moments later when Martinez teed up Gianluca Prestianni to fire into the bottom-left corner from the centre of the box.
Amir Abdou’s side were in shock, and they desperately needed to shore up their defence to avoid a hammering, but averaging over 75% possession, Argentina were in supreme control and looking for a fourth. Despite a respite of 20 minutes, Burkina Faso were to go 5-0 down after conceding two goals in a disastrous few minutes. Firstly, when Nico Paz slotted in low from the right side of the six-yard box to make it 4-0, and then following good work by Prestianni, Julian Alvarez fired in a superb fifth. The visitors were reeling, but despite some close shaves, they managed to prevent conceding any further goals before half-time.
Both sides made a flurry of changes after the restart, with Lionel Scaloni choosing to rest key players, whilst Abdou looked to add some fresh legs to his demoralised side. However, following a well-worked team goal in the 57th minute, Argentina were to compound matters for the visitors. After a series of flowing passes, Martinez found Franco Mastantuono in space, who ran on to fire in a sixth and mercilessly continue the hammering of the visitors with more than 30 minutes remaining.
With both managers making even more changes following the goal, the match lowered in tempo, and with La Albiceleste happy to keep the ball, the final 20 minutes were played out relatively comfortably. However, there was time for a seventh in stoppage time when Giuliano Simeone headed home from close range to compile further misery on the stunned visitors. The result means Argentina have now scored 11 goals from their last two matches, whilst Burkina Faso have failed to score in six of their last seven defeats.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
4' GOAL! Lautaro fires the rebound into net after the ball breaks to him! Argentina 1-0 Burkina Faso
9' OWN GOAL! Moumouni Diallo deflects the ball into the goal! Argentina 2-0 Burkina Faso
12' GOAL! Prestianni gets on the end of a pass and fires the ball in! Argentina 3-0 Burkina Faso
20' Enzo picks up a pass and tries his luck from mid-range, but Guira makes an easy save
23' Giay brings his opponent down with a tackle and the ref blows his whistle for a foul
25' Mac Allister strikes the ball towards the goal, but his effort is thwarted by Guira
31' Diarra aims his shot towards the goal from distance, but it goes well wide
33' Alvarez sends a difficult header towards the corner, but the keeper stops his effort
35' GOAL! Nico Paz receives a pass and smashes a low shot into the net! Argentina 4-0 Burkina Faso
36' GOAL! Alvarez latches on to a precise pass and fires in a superb strike! Argentina 5-0 Burkina Faso
46' Five men substitutes, Soule, Flores, Palacios, Balerdi and Mastantuono come on
51' Flores strikes the ball towards goal, but it fails to reach the target after being well blocked
57' GOAL! Mastantuono is set free in the area and sends in a lovely finish! Argentina 6-0 Burkina Faso
63' Nicolas Gonzalez and Giay have replaced Medina and Simeone
67' Mac Allister meets the corner and sends his header towards the goal, but it is denied
69' Mac Allister and Lautaro are replaced by Barco and Castro
78' Geronimo Rulli comes on in place of Emiliano Martinez
87' Mastantuono strikes from the free kick, but his curling effort is saved by the keeper
Line-ups
Argentina XI: E. Martinez, Lautaro, Cristian Romero, Mac Allister, Facundo Medina, Lisandro Martinez, Alvarez, Enzo, Nico Paz, Agustín Giay, Gianluca Prestianni
Subs: Gerónimo Rulli, Exequiel Palacios, N. Gonzalez, Balerdi, Santiago Simón, José Manuel López, Giuliano Simeone, Matías Soulé, Román Vega, Valentín Barco, Santiago Castro, Tomás Palacios, Franco Mastantuono, Santiago Beltrán, Leonel Flores
Burkina Faso XI: Bachirou Yaméogo, H. Ouédraogo, Jack Diarra, Dylann Kam, Cyril Dao, Papus Naser Ouattara, Moumouni Diallo, Chec Bebel Doumbia, Razack Guira, Donatien Bama, Alla Franck Alain Kanté
Subs: Ousmane Camara, Nouhoum Koné, Salif Tietietta, Adams Diabaté, Fadil Barro, Mikael Coulibaly, Issouf Dabo, Mohamed Zongo, Mohamed Amine Compaoré, Alane Moussa Ky, Razack Sanou
lawalolamide
33
Argentina showed absolutely no MERCY, even without MESSI, They still made Burkina Faso look MESSY😂😂😂
nomdeloprt
25
Argentina future is brighter than the Sun,no more favoritism towards players,youths are the future