Juventus midfielder Paolo Debala led Argentina to a 2-0 win over Mexico at the Carrio Kempes stadium in a friendly international match.
International players are also missing in Argentina's River Plate and Boca Juniors, who meet Saturday in the final leg of the Libertadores Cup 2-2 at Boca.
Debala took advantage of Messi's absence, brilliantly playing at all levels of the game industry, paying off and participating in all attacks, and he was close to opening the scoring on more than one occasion.
The first and most dangerous opportunity in the game was Mexican when Raúl Jiménez received a cross from Marco Fabian, who headed from close range but bounced off the crossbar.
Debala, who was encouraged to enter the pitch, was given a gold ball to Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martínez, who kept his head from close range but Ochoa saved the situation before the goalkeeper intervened and denied Debala a free kick. .
Deppala made the first goal for Argentina when he went for a free kick, followed by defending champion Ramiro Funes Mori with a header inside Guillermo Ochoa's goal.
Argentina waited until the 83rd minute to strengthen their lead with a second goal of friendly fire when Renzo Saravia broke through from the right and sped past a goal in front of the goal and defender Isaac Brizuela tried to keep it away from striker Mauro Icardi, replacing Martinez 57.
Argentina and Mexico will meet again in Mendoza Tuesday in their last friendly match this year.
