No fun without Lionel Messi. Argentina seemed to lack ideas going forward without their star player and were surprisingly weak in defence at times when they were clearly inferior in a deserved 2-1 away defeat to Colombia in the World Cup qualifiers.

Messi, still out with a sprained ankle sustained in the Copa America final the last time these two teams met, could have made the difference here, but when others were called upon to fill the void, Argentina fell silent.

The home side earned their first goal of the first half, courtesy of a well-executed corner kick. James Rodriguez crossed to the far post and Yerson Mosquera dutifully headed the ball home after La Albiceleste had fallen asleep.

However, Lionel Scaloni’s team responded after the break when Nico Gonzalez flicked past the Colombian defence and equalised between the goalkeeper’s legs.

However, the home side scored a deserved second goal – albeit in dubious circumstances. Daniel Munoz was fouled in the box by Enzo Fernandez – a decision taken after a lengthy VAR review. James, who played superbly that night, converted the resulting penalty, despite Emi Martinez’s usual game plan.

And Colombia played the rest of the game relatively confidently. Although Argentina offered some interesting attacking ideas, they hardly threatened the home team’s goal. In the end, Scaloni could only watch as his team was clearly beaten.

GOAL rates the Argentine players from the Estadio Metropolitano …