Lionel Messi (L) celebrates his team»s first goal during the international friendly football match between Switzerland and Argentina in Bern.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick, a first-half masterpiece followed by two late goals, as Argentina beat a physical Switzerland side 3-1 in a friendly on Wednesday.
Messi, often criticised for saving his best for Barcelona, combined brilliantly with Sergio Agüero to give Argentina a 19th-minute lead and produced another piece of inspiration with a run which took him past the entire Swiss defence.
Xherdan Shaqiri fired an equaliser early in the second half but Messi struck again with a clinical goal in the 87th minute and completed his hat-trick with a last-minute penalty.
Much of the game was played in near silence despite a capacity 30,000 crowd at the Stade de Suisse, apart from a single Argentine drum which banged incessantly and the odd cowbell among the Swiss fans.
The poor condition of the pitch did nothing to help the South Americans’ passing game.
Messi had already had a couple of runs at the Swiss defence before his opening goal when he played the ball to Agüero who back-heeled the return for Messi to slot the ball into the bottom corner.
He then dribbled around the entire Swiss defence and pulled the ball back into the penalty area but his team mates failed to read the move and the ball was cleared.
The visitors enjoyed long periods of possession but were repeatedly halted by tactical fouls in the Swiss midfield which went unpunished by the referee, including two clear yellow card offences by captain Gokhan Inler.
Rodrigo Braña, repeatedly kicked in the ankles, had to be substituted at halftime.
The Swiss levelled five minutes after the break when Shaqiri fired into the roof of the net.
Their young side looked set for a draw until the defence lost possession to Agüero, who found Messi and he dribbled past two defenders and scored with a shot off the underside of the bar.
Messi’s penalty gave the scoreline a somewhat flattering look for an Argentine side often short of ideas.
Lineups:
Argentina: Sergio Romero; Hugo Campagnaro, Federico Fernandez, Ezequiel Garay, Pablo Zabaleta; José Sosa, Javier Mascherano, Rodrigo Braña, Maxi Rodríguez; Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero.
Switzerland: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Djourou, Senderos, Ziegler; Dzemaili, Frei, Inler, Behrami; Derdiyok, Emeghara
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