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Alejandro Garnacho was victorious in his Copa America debut but failed to make much impression as Argentina ran out 2-0 winners against Peru.
The result means that Argentina qualify as group winners and obtained an impressive nine points from nine in group A.
Two second half goals from Lautaro Martinez, taking his competition tally to four, was enough to secure victory for the defending champions.
La Albiceleste had 12 shots to Peru’s six and enjoyed a whopping 75% of the possession.
Much had been made of Garnacho’s lack of game time considering the massive impact that he has made at Manchester United this season.
His coach, Lionel Scaloni claimed that he would “love” to play him more but it was impossible to remove other players from the lineup.
Unfortunately, despite the win, the United winger was unable to influence the play as he endured a quiet night offensively.
In his 66 minutes of action before being subbed, he received a Sofascore rating of 6.9.
He had zero shots on target and could only muster one shot off target and another one that was blocked, as he was heavily outshone by the much more experienced Angel Di Maria and Martinez.
He tried to show off his speed and skill by attempting four dribbles during the game but he was only able to complete one, finishing with a 25% success rate.
He was able to touch the ball 36 times and made 16 out of his 20 passes.
However, he was also wasteful on the ball as a frustrating night resulted in him losing possession nine times on the night.
Garnacho is not only about attack however and he worked very hard off the ball, making some important defensive contributions.
He made two clearances and two interceptions, while completing two tackles for his nation. He also won five out of his nine ground duels.
The youngster will be proud to have made his first appearance in Copa America but the experience will be tinged with disappointment that he wasn’t able to make more of an impact offensively.
Nonetheless, the game was meaningless for Argentina as they had already qualified, so in such circumstances it is always hard to make an impression.
The United man will be hoping he has done enough to at least warrant an appearance off the bench in his side’s quarter final tie on Thursday night (Friday morning UK time), with the final opponent still to be decided pending further group stage results.
United’s other interest, Lisandro Martinez was rested after playing in the opening two rounds and will be expecting to return to the starting line up in the next round after impressing so far.
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