Messi set two records in the first game of Copa America 2024 . He played in his 35th Copa America game which took him one more than Chile’s Sergio Livingstone from 1941-53.
And he took his own record of Copa America assists to 18 assists by contributing to both goals that Argentina scored against Canada.
Elsewhere another chapter was added to the Spain Italy rivalry tale.
Italy were totally outplayed by a strong,resurgent Spanish side and would have lost by a huge margin if it hadn’t been for a string of fines saves by goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma who was eventually done in by an own goal.