South American footballing giants meet in the Río de La Plata derby

As with all big derby games, this is going to be intense. Argentina face Uruguay on Friday in the second round of games in Group A of the CONMEBOL Copa América 2021 in what promises to be a huge occasion.

With huge stars on both sides, attention is sure to focus on the world class, strikers who were once teammates but today rivals; Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.

As well as providing some of the biggest stars of the tournament, the two sides also have great history in the competition. No other nation has won more titles than these two; Celeste have been champions on 15 occasions while Argentina are just one behind with 14 titles.

Uruguay will make their debut in the competition while Argentina are in search of their first win following a draw with Chile.

– Details –

• Stadium: Estádio Mané Garrincha (Brasí­lia)
• Time: 21:00 – 00:00 GMT
• Referee: Wilton Sampaio (BRA)

– History –

• Argentina and Uruguay face each other again in the CONMEBOL Copa América after two editions where they did not meet (2016 and 2019). Albiceleste has not lost in four games against Celeste (3 wins, 1 draw). Uruguay’s last victory was a 2-0 win in the 1989 edition.
• Argentina has only lost once to Uruguay in the last nine meetings in all competitions (5 win, 3 draws). ‘Albiceleste’ last defeat was in October 2013, finishing 2-3 playing away in Uruguay, in World Cup qualifiers.
• Uruguay are now 5 consecutive games without defeat in 90 minutes at the CONMEBOL Copa América (3 wins, 2 daw and they lost on penalties against Peru in the quarterfinals of the 2019 edition). Their last regular-time defeat in the tournament was in June 2016, when they lost 1-0 to Venezuela.
• Argentina was the team with the lowest ratio between goals and shots on goal at the start of the CONMEBOL Copa América: only 6% of their attempts ended in the net (Lionel Messi’s free-kick against Chile).
• Óscar Tabárez, coach of Uruguay, will manage his seventh CONMEBOL Copa América for Celeste and the meeting with Argentina will be his 31st match in the competition (7 games in his first stint, and 24 since he returned in 2006). He is the coach with the fourth most games at the tournament.Data: Opta