No Messi, but Italy fall to Argentina

Lionel Messi watched from the stand as Argentina began their World Cup build-up with a lacklustre 2-0 win over Italy at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium last night.

EverBanegaandManuel Lanzini both struck in the latter stages to put gloss on an otherwise underwhelming display.

Onetime Sunderland target Banega struck with a sweet left-foot shot from the edge of the area after 75 minutes, then Lanzini (pictured) beat Gianluigi Buffon with a fine, curling effort.

European champions Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in stoppage time as Portugal rallied to beat Egypt 2-1, after trailing to a Mo Salah strike.

Germany and Spain drew 1-1 in Dusseldorf.

Rodrigo gave Spain an early lead after being picked out by Andres Iniesta, hitting a rising firsttime shot past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Mesut Ozil, Hector, Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira were all involved in the equaliser, as Muller took one touch before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner of David De Gea’s net.

Juan Fernando Quintero’s late penalty saw Colombia come from 2-0 down to beat France 3-2 in Paris.

Olivier Giroud and Thomas Lemar had France cruising, but Luis Muriel and Radamel Falcao levelled it up as Colombia rallied before Quintero scored from the spot after a foul by Samuel Umtiti.