Argentina - Italy supercup match reportedly in the works

Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images

Lionel Messi could add a second trophy to his international cabinet

With two of the biggest tournaments in football having finals one day after the other, many fans were wondering what would happen if the winners of Copa América, Argentina, met the Euro 2020 champions, Italy.

It may not be just a dream, according to new rumors, which say CONMEBOL (who organize Copa América) have sent a message to UEFA (the organization behind the Euros) about scheduling a one-off match to decide who’s better.

.@CONMEBOL gestiona ante @UEFA
para que se juegue Argentina ante Italia, en una especie de duelo de campeones. Por un tema de calendario es muy difícil que se realice en 2021, pero podría hacerse el año entrante.

— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) July 11, 2021

Argentina won their final 1-0 against Brazil, as Lionel Messi lifted his first major honors with the national team, in a tournament in which he also won the best player and top scorer awards.

Meanwhile, Italy defeated England on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was given the award for best player after two consecutive victories in shootouts in the tournament.

Normally, the winners of both tournaments joined up alongside the winners of other continental competitions in the FIFA Confederations Cup, held a year prior to each World Cup.

However, the Confederations Cup was scrapped recently. The last edition was 2017, in which Chile, the Copa América champions, defeated the European champions, Portugal, but lost the final against Germany, the reigning World Cup champions.

There is a prior cup to this which matched the South American against the European champions - the Artemio Franchi Trophy. It was only played twice, in 1985 and 1993.

In 1985, Uruguay lost 2-0 to France in Paris. And in 1993, Argentina won against Denmark on penalties in Argentina. Coincidentally, that was also the last year Argentina had won a major trophy until this year. The cup was named after a former president of UEFA who died in a road accident.

It’s expected that this new version of the cup will not be able to be played this year due to a clogged fixture calendar and the effects of the pandemic. However, the idea is to play it next year as a preview to the World Cup.

Source: barcablaugranes.com