Argentina suffered an ignominious 3-1 defeat to Venezuela in March at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, thousands of miles from home for both sides. About 20,000 people showed up to watch the game, and it was only the second time in 24 attempts that Venezuela had defeated the two-time FIFA World Cup winners.
Argentina's line-up was full of inexperienced internationals except for one man—their captain, Lionel Messi. Most of the men who soldiered alongside Messi during his international career—like Javier Mascherano, Gonzalo Higuain and Martin Demichelis—have retired. The last few hanging on—Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi—sat out the game, as their clubs were reaching the business end of the season.