Argentina continued their never-ending happiness tour after winning Copa América, Finalissima and World Cup, thrashing Curaçao 7-0 in a friendly game where Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick and surpassed the 100-goal mark playing for La Albiceleste.
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The party on Tuesday night was unbelievable on the pitch and in the stands, except for one of the Argentine players who seems to be the victim of a weird curse. And that man is none other than Lautaro Martínez.
Martínez hasn't been able to score for Argentina since a friendly game vs. Honduras last September. Of course, he has tried, but a strange force is denying him.
In the World Cup, he had two disallowed goals by VAR against Saudi Arabia and then failed a couple of chances that eventually cost him a place in the starting XI.
Lautaro Martínez miss vs Curaçao
Lautaro didn't score in Qatar and the drought is keeping him thirsty in 2023. The striker failed to score against Panamá last week and then against Curaçao, even though he had a golden chance to put an end to his misery.
And when I say golden, I'm definitely not exaggerating.
The scene? Messi piled up a couple of opponents on the right and then crossed the ball to Martínez, who was running unmarked and with Curaçao's goalkeeper out of position. The goal was wide open and Martínez inside the six-yard box just needed to tap the ball to unleash the celebrations.
But instead, this happened:
La que se perdió Lautaro!!#Argentina 0-0 #Curazao#Fanatiz #Messi #LautaroMartinez pic.twitter.com/M3tqXBYxDE
— Fanatiz (@Fanatiztv) March 28, 2023
I mean, Martínez wasn't even able to kick the ball forward. He stopped it, got lost between his inner thoughts and the weird laws of physics and allowed shot-stopper Eloy Room to make a good save.
There is something supernatural going on. How could you rationally explain this otherwise?
Luckily for him, Argentina put seven on Curaçao, Messi reached his 100th career goal for his nation and nobody would remember his colossal miss.
Well, except for us.