Argentina beat Italy in international friendly

Manchester (England), March 24 (IANS) Argentina looked out-of-sorts without superstar Lionel Messi for much of their pre-World Cup friendly here against Italy, but midfielders Ever Banega and Manuel Lanzini scored second-half goals to lift them to a 2-0 victory.

Although Argentina is regarded as a contender at this summer's World Cup in Russia and Italy is in rebuilding mode after failing to qualify for football's showcase event for the first time in 60 years, both teams seemed equally lacking in ideas and structure and overly dependent on their star players to rescue them during Friday night's game, reports EFE news agency.

Even so, the South Americans still had enough punch to threaten the opposing goal, with veteran net minder Gianluigi Buffon making saves on shots in the first half by Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico and Gonzalo Higuain to keep the game scoreless at the intermission.