Mauritania battle to narrow defeat against Messi and Argentina

The Mauritania national team clashed with the World Champions on Friday evening and earned plenty of respect in a 1-2 friendly defeat to Lionel Messi and Argentina in Buenos Aires.

The West African nation did not emerge with a famous victory at La Bombonera but left with plenty of respect after providing a stern test to the hosts and 2022 World Cup champions. A special national team debut for SCO Angers defender Jordan Lefort saw him finish the match with a goal in the final seconds of the match.

Prior to that, La Albiceleste did not dominate as anticipated but utilized the high quality in their squad to finish with a victory. Enzo Fernández opened the scoring in the 17th minute and Nico Paz’s brilliant free kick put the reigning world champions ahead 2-0 by the 32nd minute as visitors Mauritania adjusted to the massive occasion.

Industrious work down the right wing from fullback Nahuel Molina set up the opener, with the Atlético Madrid player getting to the end line before his low cross found its way to Fernández in the penalty area for a first-time finish past goalkeeper Mamadou Diop.

The visitors struggled to find their way into the match and before too long, their deficit increased to two goals. Following a foul outside the penalty area, Como midfielder Paz produced a moment of magic from thirty yards out with a hard low drive that bounced past Diop.

Mauritania earn their respect in the second half

Messi came on at halftime but by then, the West Africans had adjusted to their new surroundings. The visitors did not make any substitutions at halftime and took advantage of widespread changes on the other side to surprisingly impose themselves on the match at times. The Argentine attack went silent, only creating one shot off target despite the introduction of their #10.

And at the end, with one more chance before full time it was Lefort who capitalized on some poor set piece defending. A floated ball into the penalty area caused chaos and after a shot attempt ricocheted to Lefort, the defender made no mistake with an accurate finish into the corner past stranded goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for a debut goal.

The 32-year-old born in France had only committed to play for Les Mourabitounes this year and will now have a moment to remember for the rest of his life.

𝓕𝓲𝓷 𝓭𝓾 𝓜𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱 !

Les 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒔 🇲🇷 s’inclinent sur la plus petite des marges face aux 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒅𝒖 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝑨𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒔 🇦🇷 à la Bombonera de 𝑩𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒔 𝑨𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔. pic.twitter.com/eJ91WhlpAB

— FFRIM (@ffrim) March 28, 2026

Mauritania will finish up the March FIFA window against Palestine on March 31, while the world champions will face another African side when they clash with Zambia at the same venue on the same day.