Lionel Messi scored a free-kick winner as Argentina beat Ecuador 1-0 in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifier.

The world champions dominated possession in Buenos Aires but looked like they were set to be frustrated until Messi’s moment of brilliance.

The 36-year-old, who is the favourite to win the 2023 Ballon d’Or, continued his fine recent form as he curled in a free-kick in the 77th minute.

Argentina held onto the lead to take all three points from the qualifier. Inter Miami’s Messi said afterwards that “everybody wants to beat Argentina. Now that we are world champions, even more,” he added.

“That’s why we can’t go down. We even have to go up a little more than we were doing. The demand in each game is maximum and, surely more and more.”

Messi was playing his first game in Argentina since leading his country to World Cup glory in Qatar. He had said that he is not intending to play the 2026 World Cup in United States, Canada and Mexico.

“There are going to be tough matches like this. Defeats, surely. We have to be as we are now, with our feet on the ground. Fight every game as we have been fighting since [head coach Lionel] Scaloni started with all this.”

“We already knew it was going to be like this, especially because of the way the qualifiers are. We knew that it is very difficult to win, that they are all very close matches.

“Ecuador is a great team. They have been showing since the last qualifiers that they have very good players, that they are physically strong, that they are clear about what they do, although they changed coaches and now they are trying something else.

“What they do, they do very well, we know what we had to do to get it going.”

Argentina will next travel to Bolivia on September 12.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline