Lautaro Martinez’s late strike fires Argentina to record 16th Copa America title, beat Colombia 1-0 in extra-time.

Lionel Messi was forced off in the second half due to injury but Lautaro Martinez helped Argentina clinch an often chaotic Copa America final.Lautaro Martinez scored in the 111th minute as Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 to win the 2024 Copa America at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, USA. This is Argentina’s 16th title in South America’s premier international competition and they have thus overtaken Uruguay as the most successful team in its history. This is also Argentina’s second consecutive Copa America title, in addition to the 2022 World Cup title they won between the two.Captain and talisman Lionel Messi has hence possibly signed off in his last major tournament by lifting three major trophies, with the eight-time Ballon d’Or set to be touching 40 years of age by the time the next World Cup comes around. This was also Angel Di Maria’s last appearance for Argentina, with the winger announcing last year that he will end his prolific international career after the 2024 Copa America. Messi had to be replaced due to a leg injury in the second half, which ended 0-0. Both teams exchanged blows in an often chaotic half an hour of extra-time, as was also the case for much of regular time. Inter Milan’s Martinez then got the ball from Giovanni Lo Celso after Leandro Paredes won it in midfield. Martinez put the shot right over the Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas and scored what turned out to be the winning goal.Start delayed by crowd troubleThe start of the match was delayed by well over an hour due to crowd trouble. Ticketless fans flooded through the gates, leading to stampede-like situations and chaotic scenes at various parts of the stadium. Argentina dominated possession for large parts of a frantic first half of extra time but Colombia looked far more threatening. Colombia started on the front foot, pressing high up the pitch and forcing Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez into making a few early saves. Jhon Cordoba hit the post in the seventh minute before Jefferson Lerma and Richard Rios had long-range efforts saved by Martinez. Colombia kept bombarding the Argentine defence in the second half as well with Arias and Davinson Sanchez coming close to scoring. Messi appeared to hurt his ankle in the 36th minute after a collision with Santiago Arias and while he got back to his feet after receiving treatment. However, he then twisted his ankle in the 64th minute and that was too much of a knock to recover from. Later images showed the extent to which the Argentina captain’s ankle had swollen. Messi broke down in tears for a significant amount of time before getting back into the thick of things as the game went into extra time.