Brasilia’s Mane Garrincha is the venue for the second 2021 Copa America semi-final between Argentina and Colombia on Wednesday.
Argentina claimed an easy 3-0 victory over Ecuador in the quarter-finals, while Colombia needed penalties to get past Uruguay.
The Argentinians went unbeaten in the group stage, picking up three wins and one draw to finish three points clear at the top of Group A.
After drawing with Chile, they beat Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia – conceding just two goals while keeping two clean sheets along the way.
Impressively, Argentina’s unbeaten streak now stands at 18 games in all competitions (11 wins, seven draws).
Lionel Scaloni’s men have also lost just one of their previous 22 outings, with their last defeat coming back in August 2019.
Having bagged four goals and four assists at the Copa America, it’s safe to say that Lionel Messi is enjoying himself this summer.
The Argentina captain has racked up three goals and three assists in his last two appearances, including an eye-catching free-kick against Ecuador in the quarters.
On the flip side, Colombia have only managed to pick up one victory in normal time at this summer’s tournament.
They registered one win, one draw and two losses during the group stage and finished third in Group B – six points behind first-place Brazil and only two point clear of last-time Venezuela.
Not only did the Colombians edge the possession and passing statistics last time out, but they also created more goalscoring opportunities than Uruguay.
However, they needed a penalty shootout to advance to the semi-finals, with Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata netting the winning spot kick.
Looking at the bigger picture, Colombia have only managed to win two of their previous ten matches in normal time.
Head-to-head: Across 40 meetings between the two sides, Colombia have only managed to claim nine wins over Argentina.
That said, Colombia are currently enjoying a three-game unbeaten streak against Argentina (one win, two draws).
Team news: Neither Argentina nor Colombia have any injury concerns heading into the semi-finals of the tournament.
Although Argentina are the bookmakers’ favourites to advance to the final, Colombia are likely to give Scaloni’s side a run for their money.
Forbet predicts that Colombia will frustrate Argentina, with the underdogs holding the favourites to a goalless draw after 90 minutes. Extra-time and/or penalties could be needed to decide the outcome.