The Villareal centre half opened the scoring a minute before half-time when he got his head to a Paulo Dybala free-kick as the Mexican defenders stood back and watched. Then Brizuela, who had replaced Miguel Layun only three minutes earlier, put through his own net eight minutes from time to seal a deserved win for the home side. 

Both teams were led by interim coaches. But it was Lionel Scaloni, in charge after Jorge Sampaoli’s short stint ended with a disappointing WC, who came out on top to record his third win in five games and his fourth clean sheet.