Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez both netted twice as Argentina secured a 4-1 victory over Guatemala in their final warm-up match for the Copa America in Maryland.
Argentina faced an early setback when Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez scored an own goal in the fourth minute, giving Guatemala their first-ever goal against the reigning World Cup and Copa America champions.
However, Messi quickly equalized eight minutes later when goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen cleared the ball straight into his path, allowing the Argentina captain to score into an empty net.
Lautaro Martinez, Serie A’s top scorer last season, then put Argentina ahead with a 39th-minute penalty and added his second goal after the break from a Messi pass.
“We are aiming for the title, we are fighting for everything,” he told TyC Sports.
“We said it when the Copa America ended in 2021 and when the World Cup ended, we will try to prepare ourselves to start the Copa America in the best possible way and hopefully it will be all joy.”
Messi claimed his second in the 77th minute after a superb pass from substitute Angel di Maria.
The tournament runs in the United States from 20 June to 14 July, with coach Lionel Scaloni’s side starting their campaign against Canada on Thursday before group games against Chile and Peru.
“We’re going to keep trying to do our best, we still want to keep winning titles,” added Messi.
“It will be harder and harder, the games are getting tougher, winning [the Copa] again is hard, but we will try again.”