Copa America: How the Barça players fared

The Copa America is over and it’s time to take stock of how our players got on at the event. The ones come back the happiest are obviously Messi and Agüero, who lifted the trophy with Argentina… So we’ll begin with them.

Argentina

Lionel Messi (630 minutes): After so many disappointments, Messi finally got his Copa America, and in every sense. As captain, he led the team, and was not only honoured with the tournament MVP award, but was also the top scorer (4) and top assister (5). He played every single minute of the tournament, and it means that with 34 appearances, he has equalled the record for appearances set way back in 1953 by Sergio Livingstone of Chile.

Sergio Agüero (133 minutes): FC Barcelona’s new signing played in four of Argentina’s seven games, and provided the assist for Messi’s goal against Bolivia, a connection we can look forward to seeing a lot more of next season. It was his fifth assault on the title, and like Messi, finally quelled the disappointment of losing two finals in a row in 2015 and 2016.

Brasil

Emerson Royal (110 minutes): The new Barça full back played in three games for Brazil, including the last quarter of an hour of the grand final, as his side tried to get a goal back against Argentina. Emerson had an impressive 85% passing rate, and also won eight balls and 12 duels.

Uruguay

Rising young talent Ronald Araujo will have gained wonderful experience from inclusion in the Uruguay squad despite not getting to play a game. This was partly because he was having some hamstring trouble. It was not a great tournament for the Uruguayans, who crashed out to Colombia on penalties in the quarter finals.