From a historical perspective, the two sides have met 95 times and Argentina have been victorious on 62 occasions and Chile just eight times. The Chileans have also not beaten Argentina in regular time on the last 12 occasions.

Messi and his merry band were impressive against Canada, barely having to step out of third gear with a comfortable 2-0 victory that could have well been more. Chile will prove a sterner test, but their struggles to overcome a fairly weak Peru side will be of concern when up against one of the best defences in world football.

Argentina will be looking to win this group with a game to spare and give a chance to rotate a few of the first teamers and I don’t see anything other than an Argentina win.

Maxime Crepeau was called upon to make 6 saves in the Canadian goal in Argentina’s first game at the Copa. Veteran goalkeeper Claudio Bravo saved 4 Peruvian attempts in Chile’s first game.

Although Brayan Cortes was in goal before Bravo’s call up during that time, Chile’s goalkeeper had at least 3 saves to make in their last three World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela respectively.

Even the most blinkered fan of all three of those sides would admit that Argentina boast a far superior attacking line up. In a match where Chile will attempt their very best to contain Argentina, the Albiceleste will be posing them all sorts of problems.

On a rolling 10 game average, Argentina earn 5.9 corners per game compared to Chile’s 4.2. The Chileans also concede far more with 3.3 conceded per match compared to Argentina’s 1.9.

Chile have only won the corner battle twice in their last six games. In contrast, Argentina picked up more corners than their opponents in eight of their last 10 and only lost the corner battle once in that time. We expect the territory, possession and attacking threat to be predominantly an Argentine one and for Chile to have spells in the match being pinned back by a lethal Argentine front line.

Fiesty midfielder Erick Pulgar has four bookings in his last seven outings for Chile, including one in the most recent game against Peru.

He will have his work cut out for him against this Argentinian midfield and the list of potential players he might need to foul is endless. He averages 1.33 fouls per 90 minutes in the past few International seasons. Ismael Kone, who occupies a similar position to Pulgar, was booked for Canada in the Argentines’ last game.

The referee for the game is Uruguayan, Andres Matonte. In over 1000 games officiating he averages 5.5 cards per game

Messi was outstanding without breaking a sweat against the Canadians, hitting 3 shots on target in the 90 minutes. He could quite easily have made it 5, if not for some surprisingly wasteful finishing.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man and the greatest player on the planet thrives in the Copa America. In a game where fouls are expected to be on the high side, his penalty taking and set pieces will all come into play for this line, as well as his inevitable ability to find spaces in open play.

To get 3 shots on target is difficult for any individual player, but there’s still no one better to land this line than the GOAT.

Messi averages 2.32 fouls drawn per 90 minutes and has only managed two games in the last ten for Argentina without being fouled. Looking further back he’s only not been fouled in three of his last twenty games for the national side.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Chile don’t attempt to bring him down at some point in the match. The only possible way would be that they just simply can’t get near him but the consistent stats showing most opponents find a way are just too strong to ignore here.