Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in a international friendly in Melbourne courtesy of a goal from Gabriel Mercado.
Argentina kept up their impressive recent record against bitter rivals Brazil with a 1-0 victory at a near capacity MCG.
Gabriel Mercado tapped home on the brink of half time after Nicolas Otamendi’s header bounced into his path off the post to give Argentina a deserved half time advantage.
Brazil were much improved after the break and only Gabriel Jesus will know how he failed to equalise, hitting the post instead of the back of an empty net after rounding Sergio Romero, Willian also clattering the woodwork on the follow up.
Many of the 95,569 packed into Melbourne’s famous old cricket ground had undoubtedly turned up with the hope of watching the mercurial Lionel Messi put on a show but the little magician was, for the most part kept quiet by disciplined Argentine defending.
And the match ended in worrying for Manchester City fans, Jesus stretchered off ion the closing moments.
Victory for Argentina means they have lost only one of their past five meetings against their great rivals dating back to 2012.