As it happened: Argentina beat Australia’s Socceroos 2-0 in international friendly in Beijing

That’s all from me. Keep an eye out for Vince Rugari’s match report, which will drop any minute. As ever, thanks for joining us.

Enjoy that, folks. It will probably be the last time the Socceroos face Lionel Messi. He’s been doing this for so long but it really is hard to overstate just how good he is, how rare his genius is, and what a privilege it is to be able to watch him play. You’d like to think the Socceroos would have learned a thing or two from sharing the pitch with him again, but his are gifts you really can’t teach.

Australia does, however, need to find a bit more Messi-esque cutting edge from somewhere to be able to trouble teams of this calibre. England are next up, in October, and that will certainly be no walk in the park. There are some excellent talents in this Socceroos team but a game-breaker in the final third remains the missing piece.

Hrustic closes out the match with an overcooked free-kick and that’s all she wrote, says the referee’s whistle. The Socceroos do not look too devastated; some appear more intent on snagging Messi’s shirt just like Cam Devlin did in Doha. Alex Robertson looked like he was in with a shot at one point. Arnold gives him a hug. They all just want a piece of him. But for now, Messi can go on holidays and then head to Miami and the Australian squad can build on what was not an indecent display by any stretch.

In the end the teams were separated by that Messi goal inside two minutes and a second-half header from Pezzella. The second was probably the one Arnold will be reviewing on video.

The Socceroos can now look forward to an away friendly with England at Wembley and then an Asian Cup campaign and a new World Cup cycle with plenty of promise.

A steward pursuing a Chinese fan who invaded the pitch.Credit: AP

88th minute: What they have mostly been missing is the oft-mentioned final ball. The moment of quality in the area that turns promising raids into goals. The Socceroos take a corner which is seamlessly dealt with, before Hrustic is fouled and sets up for the ensuing free-kick. The set piece is a little flat and the ball ping pongs back downfield.

I should mention also that Argentina have made another sub: Guido Rodriguez in for De Paul.

80th minute: With 10 minutes left to play, Argentina’s class is shining through. Messi is a magician. He puts defenders into those coffin-shaped boxes like they do on stage in front of audiences and saws straight through the middle, cutting them in half and slipping through their guts, emerging without any signs of the damage he’s just inflicted. The Socceroos don’t even know what has happened and will probably watch that brilliant moment back later. Perhaps to learn from it, perhaps merely to wonder at it. The noise from the crowd suggests they already are.

Messi on the ball.Credit: Getty

Australia: McGree, Leckie and Atkinson take their leave for Connor Metcalfe, Alex Robertson and Ryan Strain.

Argentina: Fernandez and Gonzalez run off and are replaced by Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho (on debut) and Leandro Paredes.

Argentina 2-0 Australia

71st minute: Argentina give us a taste of their World Cup-winning wares with a delicate passage of play in the Socceroos’ third. It is Messi again, and then De Paul, and then Messi. He mazes through the box, slithers through those spaces and squares to Alvarez, who evades a defender and is crisp on the finish, precipitating an excellent save from Ryan.

Here’s the second goal, by the way.

The wait was worth it for Argentina. Messi delivers his short corner to De Paul and his subsequent cross arcs onto the unmarked head of Pezzella. Ryan reaches in vain and Argentina have their second.